


Diamonds and Pearls

by FivePips, jennandblitz



Series: Rock 'n' Pole [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Asexual Character, Asexuality Spectrum, Banter, Established Relationship, Fluff, Fluff and Smut, Gender Dysphoria, Genderfluid Character, Meeting the Parents, Modern Setting, Other, Pole Dancing, Recreational Drug Use, Rock Climbing, Smut, Switches, asexual!Remus, friendships, genderfluid!Sirius
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-17
Packaged: 2020-10-11 10:00:58
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 28
Words: 61,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20544302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FivePips/pseuds/FivePips, https://archiveofourown.org/users/jennandblitz/pseuds/jennandblitz
Summary: Sirius and Remus have overcome their first big obstacle and are in a healthy and happy relationship! What's next? Moving in? Meeting the parents? Maybe something more?





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Please watch for tags as we go on!

There were a few times of the year that Sirius was really excited for. 

Usually, the days and weeks and months flew by and they had a hard time keeping up with them, but one of those dates was rapidly approaching. New Year’s with the Potters was the other  _ big _ event, and they supposed, their friends birthdays too, but Sirius’ birthday was a favourite. 

It seemed a little self-centered to be excited for their own birthday. But Sirius had never really been able to celebrate it as a child, and their first birthday with the Potters had been so much fun, it had ignited something in them. 

This year, they and Remus had planned something quiet for their actual birthday. Sirius sort of wished there would have been a big party with all of their friends, but everyone seemed busy. Remus said they could all go for drinks on the Saturday before instead, maybe even to the jazz bar. The offer of Remus playing the piano had placated them enough to agree.

Sirius had a vague feeling Remus had something planned, though. He was insistent on meeting Sirius at his flat, instead of coming to meet them at the studio or letting Sirius come to the gym. But James had also been incredibly stubborn and  _ insisted _ Sirius stop by their flat to pick up their present. James, in that way brothers did, had grumbled and pouted and said  _ but we’re going away the day after, we won’t see you. Just come and swing by for five minutes, then go to Remus. You don’t want to begrudge your brother seeing you on your birthday, do you? _

With a weary sigh, Sirius stepped off the bus, shouldering their bag as they walked the short distance around to James and Lily’s flat. Work had been good today; Marlene had put balloons all over the studio and sat at reception as each class came and went, instructing them all to sing Sirius happy birthday. Of course, all of their clients had been too terrified of Marlene to even entertain the idea of  _ not _ singing. Sirius thought the sixth rendition of the day was going to be ringing around in their head all night.

As usual, Sirius got to James and Lily’s flat and knocked on the door twice before opening it to step in. Except, the door was locked. Strange, James and Lily’s door was  _ never _ locked. Sirius bit their lip and knocked again.

After a moment, James appeared at the door, looking a little flustered. “Hey! Happy Birthday! Sorry, sorry, must’ve locked the door and forgotten. How’s your day of birth going, Your Royal Highness?” James sketched a little bow as he stepped back to let Sirius into the flat.

Sirius rolled their eyes. “Hi, you idiot. I’ve had every class today sing Happy Birthday at me thanks to Marlene, so I appreciate you  _ not _ breaking into song.”

James gave them a look. “No you don’t. You love your birthday. Come on — ” James grabbed their hand and pulled them down the hallway towards the kitchen — “your present is just in here.”

James hit the light switch just inside the doorway and Sirius immediately jumped in surprise as a loud cheer went up through the room. At the Potters farmhouse table sat Lily, Marlene, Dorcas, Frank, Alice, Mary and Peter. Remus stood at the head of the table, smiling at Sirius.

Sirius, for once, was speechless. “You…” It dawned on them all at once why everyone had said they were busy that evening, why Remus had been so insistent on seeing them at their flat, why James had been so insistent they come here. “You bunch of utter wankers, I love you.”

“Aww, you love us!” Remus pulled them in for a kiss.

Sirius melted into the kiss immediately, kissing back for a moment before they pulled away. “Did you plan all of this? You mastermind.”

“Maybe,” Remus said coyly, patting their cheek.

“Sirius, I was looking into your natal star chart, and I wrote up an overview for you. But I want to say that I think you’re really going to be having a wonderful year.” Mary smiled at them. She had her hand resting on her baby bump. The kid was going to be joining them soon and Sirius hoped it wasn’t tonight.

“Oh,” Sirius said, grinning. “Thank you Mare, I hope the stars are right, then.” Remus lead them to the seat at the head of the table and Sirius sank into the chair, with what they presumed was Remus’ seat on one side and James on the other.

Marlene leaned forward over her lurid drink. “I think so too, Sirius. This is your year, darling.”

“For sure, your year.” Remus sat down in the empty chair next to him.

James poured them a healthy glass of wine before picking his own drink up. “To Sirius, and to a great year!”

Sirius covered their face with their hands, laughing a little. “You guys are ridiculous,” they tried to say, but everyone cheered over them.

“So, Sirius, what do you want the most?” Alice asked on the other end of the table.

Sirius puffed out their cheeks, buying themselves time by taking a long drink of their wine. “Asking the big questions right off the bat, Al. I don’t know. If I tell my wishes, they won’t come true, will they?”

“That’s not true, putting it into the universe is supposed to help… Mare says that a lot.” Peter gave a nod.

Sirius pointed towards Peter, and then to Mary. “Oi!” Sirius didn’t  _ want _ to put their birthday wishes out into the universe. Most of them seemed ridiculously soppy. Sirius wanted to win another international pole competition. They wanted to still be with Remus in a year’s time. They wanted to be more comfortable in themselves. 

“So, put it into the universe, Black.” Lily held a hand out.

“That’s a lot of pressure.” Remus laughed.

Sirius looked between them all staring at him, Marlene with her glare, Dorcas grinning next to her fiancée, Alice and Frank interested, Mary placidly waiting as if the universe were listening next to her, Peter grinning. Lily raised an eyebrow and James was grinning his  _ stupid _ grin. Sirius glanced to Remus, knowing one of their wishes was about him.

“You’re not going to let me eat without saying, are you?”

“Yeah, probably not.” Lily nodded with a little grin

Sirius rolled their eyes. “Fine,” they said as they held up three fingers. “I want to win another international pole competition. I want to… feel better in myself, I guess. And I uh — ” they glanced at Remus before looking back at their wine glass — “I want to still be with Remus this time next year.”

“Those are some great wishes.” Remus gave them a soft smile.

Mary sat back in her seat, nodding. “I think that’ll happen, Sirius. It’s a good year for you. Your Jupiter retrograde is going to be just lovely, I think.”

Sirius grinned at Remus, tearing their eyes away from him after a moment. “Thank you, Mare.” Sirius reached for Remus’ hand over the table and laced their fingers.


	2. Chapter 2

Remus pressed another kiss to Sirius’ lips before heading off to the kitchen to help Alice and James put the dishes in the sink as the others got to getting some games ready to play in the living room. Remus was happy that Sirius seemed to be having a good time at their party. He was stressing all week trying to make sure that the surprise would go off as planned. He was most worried about Marlene letting things slip because she saw the most of Sirius out of them all since they worked together.

Doing something nice for his partner’s birthday felt great. It had been a few weeks since they had made up following their falling out. Things were going well, even though Remus was somewhere between sex-repulsed and sex-indifferent for lack of a better term. Of course Sirius didn’t care, just like they said they wouldn’t. All the pressure was coming from himself. But over the last week or so he was trying to just let it be. Except this morning, he woke up with a boner after a very lurid dream about Sirius. He hadn’t been able to stop thinking about it all day.

When they got back to Remus’ flat later he had a bit of a surprise for them. He had rose petals ready to go along with a bath bomb with some romantic name as well as candles waiting to be lit. At least he was interested on a good night. He figured it would be a nice birthday gift to give Sirius. Though, he’d love to give Sirius the wish they had asked for earlier. He wanted to be with them at this point next year as well.

“Moony, you’re looking thoughtful,” Alice said as she handed her dishes to James.

“He’s probably thinking about what Sirius said, aren’t you, mate?” James grinned from ear to ear.

“Possibly.” Remus attempted to shrug it off.

“I think it’ll happen, don’t you, James?” Alice asked him with a bright look.

“It’s so happening.” James patted him on the back.

Remus bit his lip because he really wanted that as well. There was no one in the world who had ever been as patient with him as Sirius. Sure they had their faults, but they were minor and didn’t bother Remus to the point of anger every day. Remus and Sirius worked well together as a pair. Like they were always meant to fit.

The group played a few party games, apparently Sirius loved to play these games and they were a fixture in the Potter’s household. The first was one where everyone had to put an After Eight on the forehead and manage to get it down to their mouth. Somehow Sirius was surprisingly good at it. Remus’ After Eight fell to the ground about two seconds in, so he sat and watched his partner work the mint down their face until they could get it in their mouth.

“Is your damn face even flexible?” Remus raised an eyebrow at Sirius.

Infuriatingly, Sirius even managed to wink before they caught the edge of the mint with their tongue and pulled it into their mouth. “Yes. I always win this game.”

“Of course you do.” Remus laughed. “What’s next?”

They then played a game called “How’s it Hangin’”. Remus wished he could have seen his own face when Lily was describing it because he was sure he looked like he had sucked on a lemon. It just sounded strange. They had to tie a banana on a string around their waist then the banana hung down between their legs and they had to thrust their hips to try to knock the orange into the designated area. For how ridiculous it was, Remus did fairly well. He was glad to go first and get it over with, then he was able to sit and laugh at everyone else as they competed for the quickest time.

James, surprisingly, was remarkably skilled at it. He and Sirius both got the orange in the designated area at the same time. By the end of their fourth rematch, Frank had to lie on the floor by the masking-tape marked area, chin on the ground to advise which one of their oranges crossed the line. Everyone was in stitches, howling with laughter, except James and Sirius, who were taking it very,  _ very _ seriously. Dorcas had to go out and stand in the courtyard because she was genuinely worried she might throw up from laughing.

In the end, James won, by a few millimetres, Frank said, and Sirius huffed and flopped into the nearest seat with their arms crossed over their chest. “I think someone bribed you Frank, to skew the results. Was it you, Lils, on your husband’s side?”

“Oh my god, you’re so dramatic.” Lily wiped tears from her cheek.

“Love, sometimes, you have to lose.” Remus rolled his eyes, his sides still hurting from the laughter.

Sirius slumped down in the seat so they could reach with their foot to kick Remus in the shin. “Not on my  _ birthday _ , caro.”

“Well, let’s play the next one. I’m pretty sure it’s more up your alley.”

“Oh?” Sirius sat forward, intrigued, their grey eyes dancing around the group.

Marlene grinned and set down her bright orange drink. “I think this one will be me versus you, Sirius, if it’s what I’m thinking of.”

Lily went to the kitchen and came back with an empty cereal box. 

Immediately, Sirius perked up. “Oh, yes! You’re going  _ down _ , McKinnon.”

“Now, now,” Lily said, explaining the game as she was the only one not still paralysed with laughter. “This one, we put the cereal box on the floor. You have to pick it up with your mouth, without putting your hands on the floor. Every time we pass a round, we rip a bit off the top of the box, until no one can pick it up… Or until it can’t get any shorter, I suppose.”

Peter groaned. “This is  _ not _ my game.” 

Mary laughed from next to him. “You say that, sweetie, you’re not the one carrying the baby. I’ll sit this one out again, perhaps. I think if I bent over I wouldn’t get back up.”

“That’s probably a good idea. Also, I’m worried the baby will come if you do.” Remus stood up. “So, we need to be on teams?”

Sirius piped up. “No, no. It’s person v person. I’m not going on a team with any of you guys, you’ll drag my talent down.”

“You know, I have really good upper body strength and core control, Sirius.” Remus shot them a look.

Sirius raised a haughty eyebrow. “Then I look forward to besting you on the cereal box battlefield, Rem.”

James clapped his hands. “Right right, come on then, you can start us off, Sirius.” He took the cereal box from Lily’s hand and set it in the middle of the room.

“Fine.” Sirius stood up, adjusted their jeans and then bent down to grab the cereal box in their mouth, making it look incredibly easy. They came back up with a grin, then set it down again for the next person.

“Show off,” Remus muttered before stepping up to the box. 

The game went on, everyone managing to pick the box up in the first few rounds. By the time the box was a few inches high, only Marlene, Lily, Sirius and Remus were left. Dorcas had crashed out the last round after stumbling  _ after _ she’d picked the box up. James arguing the rules were that hands and knees needed to stay  _ off _ the floor the whole time.

Lily was the next to go, falling onto her knees only a millimetre or two away from the goal. She grumbled on the floor for a while before moving to the side. Sirius was looking at Remus as if he were impressed the man was still keeping up with them and Marlene — Remus suspected it was usually the two of them left standing for this game.

Marlene went first with the box only an inch or so tall, barely even struggling. Sirius stepped up next, holding their hair back from their face with one hand as they followed in Marlene’s footsteps and picked it up rather easily. Remus tried not to be distracted by the way Sirius looked when they were reaching for it.

Remus stepped past Sirius to the box and sighed. This was going to be difficult only because he wasn’t as flexible as the dancers. The way down seemed very very far now.

“Come on Remus! Keep up with them for the rest of us non-dancers!” Peter cheered and James let out a ‘whoop’ as well.

He managed to get within a breath of the bloody box, but lost his balance and toppled over. “Damnit!”

“Aw, bad luck caro. You were  _ this close _ .” Sirius held up their thumb and forefinger, grinning despite their conciliatory words. Marlene laughed over his shoulder, the two of them were like peas in a pod tonight.

Remus shook his head then leaned in close to Sirius’ ear. “You know, I was going to give you something when we got back to my flat. Now, I’m not so sure,” he said in a low voice so no one else could hear.

Sirius’ eyes went wide and they bit their lip. “It’s my  _ birthday _ , Rem.”

“Oi, you two, stop it.” Dorcas threw one of the bananas left over from “How’s It Hangin’’ at them, bouncing off of Remus’ arm. “Play the game. I want to see Marlene contorting herself.”

“I wasn’t doing anything, Sirius is the one holding this all up. It is  _ their birthday _ afterall.” Remus patted Sirius shoulder then stepped away to go sit near Dorcas.

Sirius shot him a look, half puppy dog eyes and half  _ oi, sassy _ before they also moved aside to let Marlene take her go. The two of them got down to the box being just a flat piece of cardboard and those who hadn’t seen the spectacle before — Frank, Alice, Peter, and Mary — were shaking their heads in disbelief at the ridiculousness of the pair. Remus would have been surprised, but he watched Sirius bend themselves into a pretzel almost every morning.

Now that Remus wasn’t being sassy to his partner, he decided to cheer them on. It was their birthday afterall, as Sirius had reminded him. “Come on, love, beat Marly.” Remus cheered for them.

“I’m trying,” Sirius said good-naturedly, pulling their jeans up again. They were in jeans and a band tee that night, with their hair loose and stubble on their cheeks, and as always, managed to look gorgeous. Sirius bent down, bracing their hands on their legs to try and fold forward to reach the cereal box. “No,” they gritted out. “I am not letting you win, McKinnon.”

“Letting me, Sirius? No, no, I will beat you without you  _ letting me _ .” She scoffed.

Sirius flipped Marlene off, jumping up with a cheer when they managed to grab the box between their teeth. “Ha! Got you.” They set the box down with a triumphant flourish and stepped back.

Marlene glared, pushing Sirius out of the way. “Didn’t get me yet. I get one more chance!” She complained as she stepped up to what was left of the box. Everyone watched with bated breath as she bent and contorted down. Next to her, Sirius was squatting down trying to get in her eye line. Remus knew they were trying to throw her off her game.

Whether it was the eye contact, or just a chance unbalancing, Marlene fell to the floor with a grunt.

Sirius sprung up from their crouch, jumping into the air with their arms above their head. “Yes! Ha! Haaaa, I got you Marly, I  _ got _ you!” Sirius jumped around, pointing at Marlene and grinning. “Finally got you back for Dorky’s birthday! Ha!”

Everyone was laughing and cheering as Marlene flipped Sirius off from her sprawl on the floor. Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius and pulled them close. They were having fun but he  _ really _ wanted to go home. “Want to go get your gift at home?” Remus whispered into their ear.

Sirius surrendered all their weight into Remus’ arms, looking at him with an impish grin on their lips. “So,” they said, looking at Remus, “now I’ve won, I think we’re gonna go home.”

“Ugh, god.” Marlene finally sat up. “Good, be gone with you! I can’t stand to look at you any longer.”

“I get the distinct feeling,” James said, “that your victory has very little to do with you leaving, Sirius.”

Mary piped up from the sofa. “I don’t think I need to be clairvoyant to see that.”

Remus groaned a little, setting Sirius down, but only dropping one arm. “It’s a victory celebration, it has everything to do with it.”

Sirius laughed, slipping out of Remus’ arm to hug James. “I’ll see you next week? Even though I’m still not really over you luring me here on false pretences.”

James rolled his eyes but hugged back. “We’re not going away, that was a lie too.”


	3. Chapter 3

Sirius hadn’t quite recovered from the revelation that  _ all _ their friends had lied in order to pull together their birthday dinner by the time they were shrugging on their leather jacket by the door. They gave one last wave to Lily, who was seeing them to the door, before heading out into the street with Remus’ hand in theirs. 

Sirius also wouldn’t have ever thought they would skip out on the ending of a  _ birthday party _ , especially not their own, but Remus’ offer of their gift back at his flat was far too tempting to resist, especially when he smiled at them like that. He hadn’t been interested in sex recently, and whilst that wasn’t a problem for Sirius, they were happy at the prospect of getting some time with Remus.

“I still can’t believe you did that,” Sirius said as they sat at the bus stop.

Remus shrugged his shoulder. “I wanted to do something nice for you. It was fun too.”

“It was  _ so  _ fun, thank you.” Sirius nudged their shoulder into his. “How long did you keep it secret for?”

“Personally, I wanted to do it for a couple of weeks, but then I roped everyone in this past week because I didn’t trust some of them to keep their mouths shut.”

“Marly?” Sirius grinned, knowing their co-worker was the most likely to accidentally reveal a secret party.

“Yes, god, I didn’t even want to tell her but I had to, just to make sure she kept you at the studio. Also, Frank can’t shut up about stuff either. I was afraid that he’d say something in the group text.” Remus leaned against the bench.

Sirius chuckled, pulling Remus back up to standing as the bus stopped before them. “You guys did really well. I was low-key annoyed everyone was  _ busy _ on my birthday…” Sirius realised that might’ve sounded a little ungrateful and quickly backtracked. “Not that I would’ve minded a quiet night with you, I mean. But I like birthdays.”

Remus smiled. “It’s okay, I know you wanted a big party and all that. You told me all about the ones that Effy and Monty used to throw you.”

“You remembered,” Sirius said softly as they boarded the bus and sat down. They nudged closer to Remus. “That’s sweet of you.”

“Of course I’d remember something like that. You were so excited when you told me about it.” Remus put his arm around their shoulders.

Sirius leaned up to kiss the corner of Remus’ mouth. “Thank you. I’ve had a wonderful evening.”

“It’s not over  _ yet _ ,” Remus reminded them in a low voice.

“Oh.” Sirius shivered a little, smiling slightly. “Is that so?” They glanced away out the window to see where they were before looking back to Remus. “Am I ever glad you live on the same side of town as Lily and James.”

“I got some big plans, Sirius.” He laughed. “I think you’ll like them… possibly more than the party.”

“I think I’ll struggle to dislike  _ anything _ you do, caro. Especially if it’s me and you and an empty flat.”

Remus moved to press a kiss to their lips as the bus came to a stop. “That’s us.”

Sirius groaned softly, grinning as they stood and practically dragged Remus off the bus with them. They were eager to see what Remus had planned, eager to get him alone and kiss him senseless as a thank you for a wonderful evening so far.

“Mare looks like she’s ready to pop any day now.” Remus changed the subject slightly.

Sirius pinned him with a look as they walked along the pavement towards his flat. “Nuh-uh, you don’t get to give me the Remus  _ I’m stripping you with my eyes _ Lupin smirk, and then talk about Mare giving birth.”

“I did not have the smirk,” Remus said in a mock-offended tone.

“You had the smirk,” Sirius replied, nodding sagely. “I know that smirk.”

“Pft, you wish, love.” He waved a hand then reached for his keys.

Sirius huffed. “Less talking, more getting us upstairs.”

“So pushy.” Remus led them inside.

Sirius wrapped their arms around Remus’ shoulders from behind as the man unlocked the flat door. “It’s my  _ birthday _ ,” they cooed as he opened the door, letting him practically drag them into the flat.

Remus laughed as he tossed his keys on the small table inside. “Go to the bedroom and get undressed, there’s a robe in there for you.”

“ _ So pushy _ ,” Sirius parroted back, but obliged and padded down the hallway to the bedroom. Sure enough, there was a fluffy robe on the end of the bed. Sirius was intrigued. They had a vague inkling of what Remus might have planned, but they were trying not to puzzle it out too much so it wouldn’t ruin the full surprise. They stripped off and pulled the robe on, wrapping it around themselves as they padded back down the hallway. 

“Rem?”

“One minute! Why don’t you put on some music?” He called from the bathroom.

“Sure!” Sirius frowned but carried on through to the living room, hooking the speaker up to their phone. The next question was  _ what _ to listen to. After a moment they decided on King Princess’ back catalogue, turned their phone on silent and set it on top of the speaker. 

“Good choice.” Remus came out into the living room wearing a similar robe. “Come on.”

Sirius grinned over their shoulder, pausing to turn the music up a few notches so it could be heard through the flat, before following Remus. “You and your surprises.”

“You love them.” He stopped in front of the closed bathroom door.

“I do, I do,” Sirius said, tipping their head in agreement.

“You’re going to give me so much shit for this but,” Remus said as he opened the door. “You liked the last bath so much.”

Sirius stepped into the bathroom to find it lit by far too many candles for it to be safe. The tub was filled with rose petals floating on top of the pink bath water. There were two glasses of champagne poured near the tub and in the sink behind the tub, within reach, the bottle sat chilling in cold water. On the side of the tub was a bowl of strawberries with a can of whipped cream. Their first reaction was to grin. “You fucking sap.” But then they leaned into Remus and curled an arm around his waist. “I love it.”

“Good, I sort of went a bit full on Marly. I couldn’t help myself.” Remus laughed. “Shall we get in? I’ll let you be the cuddler this time.”

Sirius put a hand on their chest. “I can be the cuddler? Rem, you spoil me.” They grinned, shrugging off the robe and stepping into the bath.

“I know.” Remus watched Sirius sink into the water. “Can I join you now or would you like to be in there yourself?” Remus chuckled as Sirius sighed and relaxed into the hot water.

Sirius gave him a pointed look. “I absolutely want you in here thank you, right away if you would.”

Remus got out of his robe then carefully joined Sirius in the bath. “Mmm, this is perfect.”

“You say that like you’re  _ surprised _ . You did it.” Sirius wrapped their arms around Remus’ shoulders and pressed a kiss to his neck. “Thank you. This is ridiculous and lovely, definitely a full-on Marly.”

“Ha, I was talking about the temp of the bath. But, I’m glad you’re enjoying this. Champagne?”

Sirius laughed. “Yes, yes please. God this is like a romantic movie.” They kissed Remus’ neck again. “I’m not unwinding myself from around you though. Can you reach them?”

“Yes, I do have good core strength, you know?” Remus teased as he reached over for the glasses.

Sirius ran their hand over Remus’ stomach, curving down his side. “Mmhm, I know.”

“I came in third.” Remus handed Sirius a glass. “Not as wonderful as my bendy partner, but still, good.”

“Third was still good. I got plenty of opportunity to stare at your arse. Your jeans tonight were wonderful, by the way.” Sirius took a sip of the proffered champagne and pressed another absent minded kiss to Remus’ shoulder.

“Mmm, I got to really enjoy you in all your flexible glory tonight. It was basically foreplay.” Remus chuckled before reaching for a strawberry.

Sirius chuckled. “Oh it was, was it?” They lifted their other hand and grabbed Remus’ wrist, bringing it up so they could eat the strawberry instead. “Thanks.”

“I would have been sweet and offered it to you if you didn’t snatch it out of my hand.” Remus laughed at them. “And yes, it was foreplay, for me at least.”

“Mmm okay.” Sirius sat back a little. “Go on then, as you were, I won’t snatch.” They sipped their champagne. “And I agree. A very arresting evening watching you be somehow ridiculously sexy whilst playing ‘How’s it Hangin’,  _ somehow _ .”

“Oh god, Sirius, don’t bring that game up while we’re trying to be romantic,” Remus complained as he turned a bit with the strawberry in his hand. “Here.” He held it up to their lips.

Sirius grinned. “You don’t know, that might be my thing.” But they leaned up to eat the strawberry from his fingers, trying not to think about how erotic the whole situation was. They wanted to enjoy this and all the hard work Remus had put into it. 

Remus watched Sirius with wide eyes for a moment before setting the end of the strawberry aside. “Please, please don’t let that be your thing because if it is I don’t know if I can handle it. It’s worse than pineapple on pizza.”

“One day, I’ll convert you to it. The pineapple I mean.” Sirius took another drink of champagne, trying to commit this whole night to memory, Remus in the candlelight, smiling, with strawberry juice on his fingers.

“I love you, and I would do a lot of things for you, but never that.” Remus shook his head before taking a sip from his glass.

Sirius finished the rest of their champagne and set the glass down, before lifting a hand to run through Remus’ hair. “What’s that great Meatloaf song? I would do anything for love, but I won’t do that. He was obviously talking about pineapple on pizza.”

“Clearly. Fancy another strawberry?” Remus asked.

“Mm, please.”

Remus reached for another strawberry before bringing up to Sirius’ lips. He had that smirk on his face as he did so.

Sirius narrowed their eyes at him for a moment before leaning up to take a bite of the strawberry, keeping their eyes open.

“God, you’re so sexy, Sirius.” Remus sighed. “See, I just swooned.”

“For a second there, I thought you were going to pull something on me like just smash the strawberry into my face.” Sirius grinned, leaning forward to kiss him briefly. 

“Mmm, no, we’ve already come very close to ruining the mood a couple of times here.” Remus kissed back, nipping at Sirius’ bottom lip.

“Hm, okay,” Sirius said after they pulled back a fraction. “Let me bring the mood right back then?” They closed the gap between them again, kissing Remus deeply, sliding their hands into his hair.

Remus kissed back, his tongue sliding against Sirius’. He hummed into the kiss and leaned in closer, even though it was an awkward angle. Sirius nipped at his bottom lip before pulling back enough to speak.

“Not that I’m ungrateful for your bath, but maybe we can take the strawberries and champagne to bed so I can kiss you properly?”

“Yes, please, why don’t you grab those and I’ll take care of these candles.” Remus was already getting himself out of the bath.

Sirius let the man stand first, unable to stop themselves reaching up to swat at Remus’ arse, grinning at the slap that echoed in the tiled bathroom.

“Hey!” Remus laughed as he settled his feet on the small rug by the tub, reaching for his robe. “I wasn’t thinking about that tonight.” He chuckled again.

“I was just presented with an opportunity I had to take, Remus,” Sirius said sagely, standing themselves and stepping out of the bath. Remus handed them their robe and they pulled it on quickly, glad for the towelling material so they could bundle up warm.

“I would have done the same.” Remus pressed a quick kiss to their lips. “Go on, I’ll be in in a minute.”

Sirius kissed back, smiling, before pulling away to retrieve the champagne and strawberries. As they strolled through to the bedroom with the bottle tucked beneath their arm, they couldn’t help but think how thoroughly uninterested in sex Remus had been for the past while. Whilst his scales could’ve shifted the other way — that was a metaphor Remus liked to use, the scale from  _ Don’t even think about sex _ to  _ Yes, lots of, right now _ — just in time for Sirius’ birthday, they hoped Remus  _ wanted _ to have sex tonight, and wasn’t just doing this out of some birthday obligations to them.

About a minute later, Remus came in with a big grin on his face. It fell a little when he looked at Sirius. “What’s wrong?”

Sirius shrugged a shoulder, sat at the head of the bed with the strawberries next to them, champagne glasses topped up on the side. “Nothing, caro. Nothing at all. What was that big grin for?”

“You, silly.” Remus came over to the bed to stand in front of Sirius. “Tell me what’s wrong though.”

Sirius hooked their fingers around the tie of Remus’ robes to tug him to sit down on the edge of the bed. “I don’t want this to sound ungrateful. But… I just want to check in with you, just in case you feel like you’re obliged to do something sexy tonight, even if you’re not feeling it.”

“You’re so sweet, Sirius, really, I’ve never been with someone so understanding about this. I’m okay, I’ve been thinking about this since I woke up this morning.” Remus took their hand.

“Okay.” Sirius let out a breath, kissing Remus’ knuckles. “I just wanted to check, and I won’t worry anymore now.”

“Good because I really want you to fuck me.” Remus looked Sirius in the eyes as he spoke. “Is that okay?”  
  
Sirius blinked, once, twice, a handful of times.  _ Yes, yes yes yes _ .  _ More than okay, the most okay _ . “Er — ” They grinned, shaking their head a little to dislodge the cotton wool of  _ did I hear him right? _ — “You’re something else, Remus, you really are. Yes. I would absolutely bloody love to fuck you on my birthday please and thank you.” Sirius couldn’t help leaning up to kiss Remus fiercely, cupping his face. “Yeah?”


	4. Chapter 4

Over the last few weeks, Remus hadn’t wanted to much to do with sex. There were a few times that he snogged Sirius when they got off, but he wasn’t much interested in anything more. He couldn’t be sure but there had to be some type of divine intervention of some sort for him to wake up hard, thinking about Sirius. They hadn’t stayed with one another that night because they were trying not to spend every available moment together. They weren’t living together, they said one night, so they should spend some time apart.

Granted, if Sirius has been in bed this morning, neither of them would have made it to work on time — if ever. Just like always, he couldn’t pinpoint what moved him down the scale, but he was dying to get his hands on Sirius all day long. He had to do his best not to think about all the ways he wanted them. Yet, halfway through a session, Remus realized he didn’t have condoms or lube.

He wasn’t sure about the condoms. Sirius had gone down on him a couple of times without protection, but he figured he should get them anyway. There was never a moment in his life he felt more cheesy than with lube and condoms in one bag and a thing of rose petals he had ordered in the other. That didn’t mean he wasn’t looking forward to the night though.

Sirius seemed to enjoy themselves in the bath. It didn’t last too long, but Remus was more than happy to get out of the tub if it meant going to bed with Sirius. Except when he walked in the door Sirius looked too thoughtful about something. That something ended up being his concern for Remus’ actual want to do something in bed. Remus assured them he was more than fine and told them how he wanted them to fuck him. It was surprising Sirius’ eyes didn’t pop out of their head.

“Yeah, honestly. I, ah, I bought lube and condoms because I had none.” He pointed to the side table. “Whatever you want to do tonight, I’m all yours.”

“Yeah… God, Remus, okay, okay.” Sirius pressed up to kiss him again. 

Remus kissed back, their tongues tangling in his mouth. He pulled back for a moment with a grin. “Really, just tell me what you want.”

Sirius puffed out their cheeks. “I… shit, Remus. I don’t know, just you.” Sirius kissed him again. “Out of that robe, first of all.” Their hands went to the edges of the robe to pull it open.

Remus laughed as he let Sirius undo his robe and push it off his shoulders. “I’m surprised you’re even speaking right now. I thought you were going to go mute or something if I told you that.”

“I… I’m not far off, honestly.” Sirius shifted up onto their knees, pulling the robe down Remus’ arms and trailing their hands over his torso and down over his stomach. They bit their lip, grinning as they slid their hand down Remus’ thigh. “Best birthday present ever.”

“Really lucked out on my brain and body, or whatever, deciding this was happening. Not that you’d care, I know.” Remus said the last part quickly, as he watched them slide their hand back up his thigh.

“Exactly. Definitely lucky.” Sirius kissed the corner of his mouth. “Can I touch you?”

“Yeah -- yes, please.” Remus felt his breath catch in his throat.

Sirius immediately wrapped their fingers around him, stroking slowly. “God, god you’re so gorgeous. I’m going mad trying to decide how I want you.”

Remus let out a soft moan as Sirius stroked him. “I’m fairly certain you’ve said to me before that we have all night and this is true now too.”

“That’s true…” Sirius bit their lip, pulling back after a moment. “Get up here, c’mon,” they murmured, urging Remus up towards the head of the bed.

Remus moved up, leaning back against the headboard. It had been so long since he had done anything further than a blowjob or a handjob. He was glad that he wanted to do this with Sirius.

Sirius crawled up next to him, dropping their head down to kiss the dip of Remus’ hip before sitting back up. “Do you want me to… Christ.” Sirius rubbed a hand over their face. “I am a fucking adult and not a virgin, why am I so flustered? Do you want me finger you, or do you want to do it?”

“You can, please.” Remus pulled Sirius in for another kiss. 

Sirius kissed back, meeting Remus halfway, their hands roaming over Remus’ hips and stomach, stroking over him again. They bit softly at his bottom lip, soothing the sting with their tongue. Remus hummed into the kiss and pulled them closer to him. Sirius obliged, crawling closer and urging Remus back a little. Sirius sat back after a moment, one hand still stroking over Remus whilst they glanced to the side and snatched up the lube with the other. “Okay? God… fuck you’re so gorgeous.”

“Okay,” Remus said watching Sirius.

“You’re… Jesus, Remus, I want to just take you apart. I still don’t get how you do this to me…” Sirius sat back on their heels before moving between Remus’ legs, watching him. They bit their lip, slicking their fingers before dropping the lube out of the way.

“Whatever you want to do…” Remus trailed off, opening his legs wider.

“Yeah,” Sirius breathed, reaching between Remus’ legs and pressing gently against him, stroking softly. They were practically holding their breath, eyes fastened on Remus’ face to watch him.

Remus canted his hips a little, let out a little noise at the sensation of Sirius’ touch. Sirius apparently took that as encouragement, pressing one finger into him and letting out a little noise of their own, their other hand moving over Remus’ thigh. He moaned at the feeling of Sirius’ finger inside of him, wanting  _ more now _ , but he needed his body to catch up to his brain first.

“Tell me if I’m going too fast,” Sirius murmured, slowly moving their finger as they wrapped their other hand around Remus’ cock again. 

“I will, don’t worry, ah, god.” Remus dropped his head back to the pillow, enjoying Sirius’ touch. Remus felt Sirius’ breath over his cock, then their mouth, kissing and nuzzling as their finger moved deeper in him. “Shite, Sirius, more.”

Sirius made a soft noise of agreement, laving their tongue over Remus, before Remus felt another finger easing into him. Remus pushed his hips towards Sirius as the second finger caused a bit more stretch. He just wanted Sirius inside him except he knew he needed more.

“You feel so good, caro,” Sirius said, moving their fingers deeper, stretching a little more.

“Mmm, fuck, I can’t wait til you’re inside me, Sirius.” Remus opened his eyes again to look at his partner.

“Oh god…” Sirius moaned softly, their eyes flickering up to meet Remus’ gaze as they twisted their fingers inside him. A third finger pressed alongside the others, firm and warm.

“Ah, shit!” Remus jerked his hips. “You’re so, ah, you’re going to kill me. I feel like you.”

Sirius chuckled softly as they twisted their fingers. “Good. I want you in ecstasy.”

“Well on my bloody way.” Remus moaned again.

“I love the sound of you moaning.” Sirius’ other hand went to Remus’ thigh, pushing it up towards him a little. 

Remus let his leg be moved and pressed his hips back against Sirius’ fingers. “God, Sirius, I want you so bad.”

“Yeah?” Sirius withdrew their fingers, leaning up to kiss Remus, briefly but hard. “You ready?”

“Yeah, yes, I need you right now, Sirius.” He pulled them back for another, deep kiss. He felt like his whole body was on fire, in the best way possible. He needed Sirius close to him. “I don’t want to use a condom. I want to feel you inside me. If that’s okay with you.” Remus’ voice sounded strange to him.

“Yeah, oh God.” Sirius shifted, pressing close, moving Remus’ knees up so he felt the head of their cock press against him. They pushed in slowly, breathing hard and kissing the corner of Remus’ mouth as they did.

Remus’ hands clutched as Sirius’ back as they slowly moved their hips forward. “Oh, you feel so good. Shit.”

“Fuck,” Sirius managed to grit out once they were deep inside Remus, nipping his bottom lip. “Holy shit, Remus, you… fuck.” After a moment they pulled out almost all of the way before thrusting forward again.

Everything felt overwhelming, but Remus loved it. He didn’t want it to end, he wanted Sirius there forever. “Oh god, I love you.”

Sirius pressed their face into Remus’ neck, peppering kisses over the side of his jaw and the soft spot behind his ear as they thrust into him, deep but not too deep, hard but not too much. One of their hands was on the pillow by Remus’ head, the other digging slightly into Remus’ thigh. “I love you. Fuck, you feel so good, you feel  _ so good _ .”

“You too.” Remus pulled them into a messy kiss, not able to get enough of them.

Sirius kissed back, their tongue coiling with Remus’, their teeth scraping over Remus’ bottom lip. After a moment or two they reached down between their bodies, trailing their fingers over Remus’ stomach before wrapping around his cock, stroking in time with their thrusts. Remus moaned into the kiss, feeling himself dancing on the edge of the climax. He didn’t want to come yet, but he did at the same time.

“Fuck, Rem, you--god, you feel so good.” Sirius broke the kiss, pressing their forehead against Remus’ even as their thrusts grew in speed.

Remus’ fingers dug into Sirius’ sides as he arched up against Sirius. The edge was approaching quickly, and Remus desperately wanted to hold on. “I’m gonna come, Sirius. Shit,” he said, his heart pounding against his ribs.

Sirius moaned sharply. “Yeah, come, caro. I want you a million ways tonight.” Sirius kissed him lightly. “I’m so close.”

“Ah, fuck,” Remus pulled Sirus into another kiss as the climax washed over him. He felt completely out of control for a moment, giving himself completely over to Sirius.

Sirius stroked Remus through his orgasm, their hips rolling against his. They were moaning with every out breath, their head tilted to the side to press against Remus’ neck again. “Shit Remus, oh my god…”

Sirius’ voice managed to get through the slight ringing in his ears. “Come inside me, Sirius, come on,” he said, rubbing their back.

“Oh  _ fuck _ — ” Sirius’ thrusts grew a little erratic, their hand clenching over Remus’ hip as they came, tensing and shuddering, with a sharp keening noise right near Remus’ ear.

Remus moaned at the warm feeling of Sirius coming deep inside him. “Oh, god, yes, Sirius.”


	5. Chapter 5

Sirius was pretty sure they’d died and gone to heaven. Sure, they didn’t  _ believe _ in heaven, but if it were going to exist it would be buried in Remus with his arms around them. Sirius felt boneless, sinking into Remus and pressing kisses all along his jaw. They didn’t want to move, ever.

“Holy fuck…”

“Yeah, yeah,” Remus mumbled, still holding tight to Sirius.

“God, I — ” Sirius huffed a laugh, sure they’d never been so incoherent before — “I know I say I can’t feel my legs a lot but I really don’t think I can… fucking hell, Remus.”

“I can’t feel mine either.” Remus hummed. “You feel so good.”

“I vote we just stay like this until I’m hard again and then we can keep going,” Sirius said, grinning as they slowly lifted their head from Remus’ neck, greeted with the sight of him looking suitably rumpled and debauched.

Remus chuckled, one hand going up to their hair. “God, I’m not going to even argue against that.”

Sirius pressed a kiss to Remus’ lips. “Best birthday  _ ever _ .”

“Mmm, I’m so happy you liked my gift. Though, I did get you something else to unwrap.” Remus patted their back.

“Is it you, Rem? Unwrapping you from that robe, all covered in rose petals?” Sirius groaned softly, biting their lip. 

“Love, you already did that.” Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius huffed. “Okay, I suppose I can open it and then we can have more mind-blowing sex.  _ I guess _ .” They shifted their hips, pulling away and giving a soft hiss at the sensation.

“Damn, I was hoping you’d stay there forever.” Remus stayed where he was laying.

“Give me a half hour,” Sirius murmured, running their hand up Remus’ thigh, rubbing softly. “You’re so gorgeous. I — ” Sirius trailed off, wanting to say something like  _ thank you for trusting me,  _ or _ letting me,  _ or _ giving this to me _ , but they didn’t quite know how.

“Hmm, you what?” Remus smiled at them softly. “I’m not sure if I can handle that again in a half hour. I really might die.”

Sirius grinned, shaking their head a little. “Fine, fine. How about more champagne, strawberries and cuddling for a while?” Sirius crawled up next to Remus, sprawling out next to him with their arm across his stomach. “That was ridiculously good.”

“I’m feeling a bit… sticky now. I’ll clean up then yes to both the champagne and strawberries. But what were you going to say, you started to say something and cut yourself off.” Remus pressed because he was a nosey bastard.

“I’ll get a cloth,” Sirius said, realising they’d trailed off a bit too late, and Remus was too sharp to let them get away with anything. Sirius slipped from the bed, intending to nip through to the bathroom.

Remus quickly caught their wrist, stopping them from getting too far. “First of all, way to avoid the topic. Second of all, I was going to get the cloth because it’s your birthday.”

Sirius groaned, sinking back onto the edge of the bed. “Fine… I just… I wanted to say something like — like, I dunno, thank you for trusting me, but it sounded stupid.”

“It’s not stupid, it’s sweet.” Remus pushed himself up and tugged Sirius down a little to give them a quick kiss. “That’s not stupid.”

“Well,” Sirius hummed, sinking back a little, “then thank you, for letting me. I’m so bloody lucky to have you, Remus Lupin.”

“I’m bloody lucky to have you too, Sirius Black.” Remus grinned. “Now, I’ll go get the cloth and your gift.”

Sirius flopped back onto the bed, grinning to themselves. It felt like everything came together wonderfully today. They had had a brilliant time at the party and then been spoiled by Remus. Luckily, Remus was in the mood for sex, and Sirius was in the mood to top. In the past they had been in situations where topping felt too… odd, dysphoric in a lot of ways. Thankfully that wasn’t the case tonight. Remus would’ve been fine with it, they imagined, but they wanted to make the most of the night. They had tomorrow off too, so it was perfect.

A few minutes later, Remus came back into the room with the cloth as well as a present tucked under his arm wrapped in a shiny red paper. “Okay, love, here we go.” He handed Sirius the cloth then set the gift down on the bed before negotiating to sit without knocking over the champagne and strawberries.

“Hold on,” Sirius said, grabbing the strawberries and moving them out of the way, setting them down on their other side whilst Remus settled. “Here, swap.” Sirius grinned impishly as they held the cloth out to Remus after cleaning up themselves.

“I already cleaned up, thank you though.” Remus took the cloth and tossed it across the room to deal with it in the morning. “Open your gift!”

“Alright, alright! You’re like a kid at Christmas!” Sirius sat up, gingerly opening one end of the gift, peeling the tape off carefully.

“Oh god, why are you being so careful about it?” He chuckled, reaching for a strawberry.

“I  _ enjoy _ unwrapping presents. You have to savour them!” Sirius grinned, shaking their head as they unpeeled the rest of the wrapper, seeing first a box with what looked like a glimpse of a kitchen on the side. “Oh my god. A  _ waffle maker _ ?” Sirius laughed, pulling the rest of the paper off. “So we can make waffles! Ah! That’s perfect!” They shoved the box aside for a moment, leaning over to grab either side of Remus’ face and pull him into a kiss.

Remus laughed into the kiss. “Yes, we can make waffles whenever we want. I mean, I doubt they’ll be as good as our favorite, but you know…”

“I love it!” Sirius pulled the box back into their lap again, looking it over. “It should stay here, though. You’ve more room, and I feel like we do breakfast at yours more often.”

“It’s your gift, though.” Remus frowned a little. “Maybe you should just move in then.” He laughed.

Sirius laughed, before the weight of Remus’ words sunk in. Their head whipped up to look at him. “Are you serious?”

“Oh! Um… no… yes? I mean, I would love you here but we haven’t been dating that long have we?” Remus furrowed his brow in thought.

“Does that matter?” Sirius bit their lip. “We’re at each other’s places often enough, I guess?”

Remus shrugged. “I mean, it’s all still so new and I’m so happy, don’t get me wrong, but I think we should give it time. Or we should probably talk about this when we’re not on a post-sex high.”

Sirius cocked their head. They were the kind of person to throw themselves into everything, so they supposed this was a good idea. “That’s true. For the record, I like the idea… but I also like the idea of kissing you some more whilst we’re both naked and there’s strawberries and champagne.”

“You’re not upset, are you?” Remus asked, reaching for another strawberry.

“No. I want to talk about it when we’re not in the middle of things, though. I won’t let Remus bottle-things-up Lupin run away with the idea of waking up next to him every day.” Sirius smiled and pitched forward to kiss Remus briefly. “But not tonight.”

“Okay, okay. Strawberry?” He held it up near Sirius’ lips.

Sirius leaned forward, a hand going to Remus’ knee to steady themselves as they took a bite of the strawberry, licking their lips to catch a stray droplet of juice. “They’re really good.”

“I know, they’re perfect.” Remus finished the strawberry before grabbing the champagne. “Another glass?”

“Remus Lupin, are you a feeder?” Sirius said, sinking back into the pillows and grinning over at him.

“Funny, Sirius.” Remus rolled his eyes as he handed a glass to Sirius.

“I know, I know, I’m pretty hilarious.” Sirius took the glass, quickly catching Remus’ wrist with their other hand and bringing his hand up to press a kiss to his knuckles. “Thank you.”

“Hmm, you’re pretty something.” Remus scoffed as he reached for the champagne.


	6. Chapter 6

Remus cracked open one eye to see the morning light shining through the curtains. He rolled over to find Sirius next to him still snoring softly. Out of all the times that Remus and Sirius has woken up together these last few months, this was one of the few times that Remus managed to wake up before them. He felt a little smug because he clearly wore Sirius out last night.

The night before had been brilliant and everything Remus has hoped for Sirius’ birthday, right down to the sex. It felt so good to be with Sirius in that way. They had never done that together before, and he knew that he trusted Sirius enough to want it. Sirius seemed to appreciate that bit, even though they were reluctant to say. They had talked about going again, but they somehow fell asleep before that happened.

Next to him, Sirius stirred and Remus grinned. “Good morning, love.”

“Mmm… How are you awake?” Sirius said, burrowing into their pillow a little.

“I don’t know. Why aren’t you awake?” Remus countered.

“Because we fucked and my brain clearly needs time to process how earth-shatteringly good it was.” Sirius grinned and cracked one eye open. “I dreamt about it.”

“Hmm, you did?” Remus put his hand on Sirius’ back.

“Mmhm.” Sirius’ eyes had closed again. “We were in a villa in Tuscany up in the hills. We were in the pool then ended up on the side of it, going at it.”

“Going at it. Eloquent.” Remus chuckled, pressing a kiss to Sirius’ cheek. “Any other good details?”

“I have been awake for twenty seconds Remus, I am not eloquent yet.” Sirius wriggled closer. “Mm, it was all good. You looked good. All wet from the pool with the sunlight all over you. Felt good too.”

“Mmm, I bet.” Remus kissed over Sirius’ shoulder.

Sirius grinned, their eyes still closed. “Mmm, definitely. Had you all laid out in front of me, gasping for it. Was fun.”

“Hmm that sounds nice, bit like last night.” Remus ran his fingers through Sirius’ hair. “Well, minus the fact we were in Tuscany in your dream.”

“Mmmhm.” Sirius rolled onto their back and flung an arm over their face. “Here will do, for now, I suppose.”

“It could do.” Remus placed a line of kisses across their collarbone.

Sirius squirmed a little, smiling as they tipped their chin up and bared their neck. “I think it could.”

“Hmm, did you really like the dream?” Remus slid his hand down their stomach towards the dip of their hips.

Sirius cracked an eye open, lifting their hips up towards Remus’ touch; they were already more than half-hard. “Mmmhm.”

“Would you like me to help you with this?” Remus grinned as he wrapped his hand around them.

“Ah…” Sirius swallowed. “I mean, if you’d be so inclined…”

“I’m feeling rather inclined right now.” He started to kiss down Sirius’ body.

“A-Are you now?” Sirius ran a hand up Remus’ arm and through his hair, shifting down the bed a little.

“Mmmhmm.” Remus nuzzled at their belly button for a moment.

“I think this should still count as part of the best birthday ever,” Sirius mumbled, running their fingers through Remus’ hair, propping themselves up on one elbow.

Remus smiled up at Sirius before giving a slow lick down their thigh. He moved between their legs then licked up the underside of Sirius’ cock. This was the first time Remus had wanted to do this with Sirius, and he was so glad he was in the mood.

Sirius let out a choked sort of gasp, their fingers still through Remus’ hair. “Fuck, you’re so good, Rem…” 

Circling his tongue around the head, Remus hummed then took Sirius into his mouth. Slowly at first, Remus bobbed his head, putting a hand on Sirius’ thigh. Sirius wriggled beneath him, their hips shifting as they gasped, their fingers stroking Remus’ hair back from his face. 

“God, Remus…”

With a long hum, Remus continued to bob his head. Every so often he stopped to kiss and lick at their cock. “You taste so good here.” Remus muttered before taking Sirius into his mouth again.

“Oh, fucking hell.” Sirius threw their head back, flopping down onto the bed, moaning long and low. 

Remus sucked harder, taking Sirius even further down his throat. He could tell that Sirius was on the edge when he looked up at them — their cheeks were flushed and they were biting their bottom lip, looking down at him.

“Ah, I’m gonna —I ’m gonna come — ”

Remus moaned around them for a moment just before Sirius came, their hips jerking a bit. He kept moving his head as the orgasm rolled over Sirius. Remus wanted to taste every last bit of them.

Once they stilled, only their chest heaving, Remus pulled off and sat back. “So, that was good?” Remus smirked then wiped his hand over his mouth.

Sirius lifted a hand to gesture vaguely in the air. “Yeah… fuck, yeah.”

He moved back up to press a kiss to Sirius’ lip. “Good, love. Happy birthday, again.”

“You know,” Sirius said, licking their lips, “at this rate you’re going to struggle topping this for next year.”

“God, I really set myself up for failure, didn’t I?” Remus snuggled up against Sirius.

“Mmhm.” Sirius kissed Remus’ temple, shifting to wrap an arm around his shoulders. “Do we need to do anything today?”

“No, I’m off all day. What about you?” Remus sighed and closed his eyes. He wasn’t tired, but he didn’t want to get out of bed just yet.

“Yeah, off all day. Don’t know what I want to do though.” They pressed another kiss to his temple. “This sounds good right about now.”

“We can do this right now.” Remus was happy because Sirius normally wanted to get out of bed and do  _ things _ . “We could do this all day, really. Have breakfast in bed, watch something on my laptop…”

“Mmm, that sounds good.” Sirius grinned in the corner of Remus’ eye. “Maybe kiss some more too, hm?”

“Oh, yeah, more kissing and cuddling.” Remus sighed.

“You’re sighing again. My wistful Austen heroine.”

“You know how you said my cock was amazing or something before? It made you say genius things?” Remus questioned, pressing a kiss to Sirius’ cheek.

“It  _ did _ , your dick is that good. But yeah?”

“Your dick makes me sigh even more than normal, I think.”

Sirius laughed, turning their face into his hair to muffle it a little. “I love that.”

“I’m sure you do.” Remus rubbed a hand up their side. “Do you want coffee or anything? I could make you something then get my arse right back here with food and my computer.”

“I was literally about to offer to go and get coffee, but that sounds good. I’ll come with, it’s only fair I’m waited on only  _ once _ a year,” Sirius said, nudging Remus a little.

“No, one of us has to stay in bed or we’ll not come back. We need to keep it warm.” Remus kissed their forehead. He really enjoyed taking care of Sirius.

Sirius looked at him for a moment before sprawling out onto their back and throwing their hand over their forehead. “Oh, I suppose you’ve convinced me. I’ll have to stay here, and be denied the delight of watching Remus Lupin bumble around the kitchen in his pyjamas.”

“Stop being dramatic.” Remus laughed at them.

“Never.” Sirius pushed at Remus’ leg with their foot. “Go and get me coffee already.”

“Fine, fine.” Remus kissed them once more before maneuvering out of bed. 

When he managed to get to the floor without stepping on Sirius, he went over to the dresser. “Any food?” He grabbed a pair of PJ bottoms and went to put them on.

“More strawberries and champagne is probably a bad idea, hm?” Sirius had tilted their head a little to watch him get dressed, unashamed.

“Probably, love. We can have that later.” Remus pulled the bottoms up.

“Boooo.” Sirius grinned, rolling onto their side. “You spoil all the good things.”

“How about eggs and bacon?” Remus went back towards the bed.

“Sounds good, I suppose.”

“Okay, okay.” He dropped a kiss on their lips then stood up straight. “I’ll be back soon, don’t miss me too much.”

“I’ll try,” Sirius said, putting on a voice thick with tears. 

Remus got to the bedroom door before Sirius wolf whistled, very loudly.

“You’re so…” Remus shook his head. “I love you.” He said before finally making it out of the door towards the kitchen.


	7. Chapter 7

Sirius watched Remus walk away for a moment before grinning to themselves and rolling over to bury their face into the pillows. To be honest they were still a little delirious from the night before; having sex with Remus was ridiculously good and incredibly hot and then waking up shortly followed by a blowjob was just the cherry on top of the cake. It still baffled them occasionally how they were so  _ damn  _ happy. It was all falling into place.

After a moment Sirius rolled over to retrieve their phone, checking a message from Lily about getting home and one from Marlene full of lurid emojis. They absolutely had the best birthday ever.

They glanced up as they heard footsteps down the hallway.

“All right, coffee, eggs, bacon, and I even have some strawberries on here,” Remus said walking into the room with a tray full of food.

Sirius threw their phone down, grinning up at Remus and holding their hands out for the tray so Remus could climb past them onto the bed. “This looks amazing, you are the  _ best _ .”

“Thank you, love.” Remus pressed a kiss to their forehead before sitting down beside them. “Ah, I forgot the laptop. I’ll get that after we eat.”

“Mmhm, let’s eat first.” Sirius set the tray down on their laps, braced between the two of them. They picked up a fork and grabbed a forkful of eggs.

Remus grabbed the other fork and did the same. “Marlene sent me a text with the most horrifying assortment of emojis. Please tell me you got one too.” He grimaced.

Sirius grinned, nodding. “Yep, unfortunately, I can speak Marly, so I know exactly what it bloody means. She’s ridiculous.”

“Oh god, do I even want to know?” He reached for his coffee after swallowing his eggs.

Sirius shook their head. “No, absolutely not. Ignorance is bliss, caro.” They leaned over to press a kiss to Remus’ cheek before plucking up a piece of bacon to chew.

Remus chuckled. “I guess I’ll take your word for it, even if I’m bloody nosey.” He went for more eggs.

“Okay, okay,” Sirius said, rolling their eyes. “It basically said  _ I can’t believe you guys ran off for sex, hope you had a good night and you can actually walk today. _ ” Sirius gave him a look and drank their coffee. “See, ignorance.”

Remus’ cheeks were turning pink. “Oh god, I shouldn’t have asked. Why can’t I be ignorant?”

“Told you, caro, told you.” Sirius waved their fork in Remus’ general direction before they speared a strawberry on it and took a bite. 

“I can walk just fine. You were very sweet.” Remus laughed as he went for the bacon.

“That’s a compliment I hope?” Sirius grinned. “I had a wonderful night. Thank you.”

“Yes, it’s a compliment. I didn’t want our first time doing  _ that _ to be ‘fuck me into the mattress so I can’t walk for days’, but it was fantastic. I had a great night too.”

“Mm, we can do that next time.” Sirius drank their coffee and gave Remus a lascivious look over the rim of the cup.

“Absolutely. I still like the idea of driving out to the middle of nowhere and fucking you against my car with a leg over my shoulder and one around my waist.” Remus’ tone was his usual calm, casual one.

Sirius let out a puff of air through their nose. “Mmhm, yep.” They cleared their throat. “Me too.”

Remus smirked at them before sipping their coffee. “Did I do that thing?”

“Yeah,” Sirius breathed, shaking their head a little. “It’s okay, though. I’m… I’m just eating bacon… You’re ridiculous, though. You and that voice.” Sirius chewed a slice of bacon.

“Do you want to change the subject?” Remus raised an eyebrow.

“If we want to finish breakfast it would be a good idea.” Sirius sipped their coffee, going quiet for a moment. “Remember what we said last night?”

“Which part?” Remus furrowed his brow.

“Moving in together.” Sirius scraped a hand through their hair, glancing over to the window for a moment.

“Right, yeah, what about it?” Remus’ nudged his foot against their calf.

“We said we should talk about it when we’re not sex-high, is all.”

“Okay, let’s talk about it.” Remus nodded, setting his fork on the tray. “How do you feel about it?” He turned towards Sirius with his coffee still in his hand.

“I think it would be good. We spend so much time together anyway. I would like it.” Sirius took a drink of their coffee, still sitting up and looking ahead.

“Love, look at me,” Remus said softly as his hand ran over their shoulder.

Sirius tilted their head to look in Remus’ eyes for a moment before settling on his mouth. “Mmhm.”

Remus’ hand slid up and tilted their chin so Sirius’ eyes were on his. “Look, I love you and I want to move in with you but it’s so soon. It’s just over three months now. There’s so much we don’t know about one another still.”

“So we can get to know each other when we wake up together in the morning and go to sleep together at night.” Sirius shrugged one shoulder, biting their lip.

“I know that, love, but what happens if something comes up and we  — it doesn’t work. I don’t think it will, but jumping in…”

“If something comes up and we split up? Then…  _ if _ , if that happens, I move back out to Marly’s or something.” Sirius chewed their lip, tilting their head a little. “You think that’ll happen?”

Remus dropped his hand and ran it through his curls. “I don’t know what’s going to happen. I don’t want it to happen. If you moved in and something came up, which I hope it doesn’t, then we break up and you have to move out that’d so… it’d be harder.”

“I know that… but wouldn’t the risk be worth it?” Sirius drank the rest of their coffee and set the mug down on the side.

Remus looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded. “It would be, yeah, but… Sirius it’s only been three months. I don’t even know about your family.”

Sirius snorted. “You don’t  _ want _ to know about them.”

“But I do!” Remus threw his hands up. “I want to know everything about you.”

“Fine,” Sirius huffed. “My parents were awful and shitty and so great they kicked me out at sixteen for being queer and I moved in with James and I haven’t seen them since.”

“I’m sorry.” Remus put a hand on Sirius’ leg.

“It’s fine, I’m over it, don’t even think about them anymore.” Sirius glanced over at Remus and covered his hand with theirs. “You shouldn’t either. Forget I even mentioned them, Effy and Monty are more parents to me than they were.”

“Okay, all right, but Sirius it still happened to you and I’m going to still be sorry.” Remus kissed them on the cheek. “If you ever want to tell me more about it, I’ll listen.”

Sirius nodded, sinking into Remus a little. “Okay. Thank you.” They sighed softly and turned their head a little. “What about you, you mentioned your mum before a bit. What’s she like?”

“She’s brilliant and supportive. She wanted to go to Germany for the competition, but couldn’t take time from work.” He shrugged. “She still lives up near Cardiff. I love her and she knows all about you.”

“She sounds lovely.” Sirius had a great relationship with Effy, she was a mother in a lot of ways, but they didn’t imagine it felt the same as a real parent-child relationship. “Hope, right?”

“Yes, Hope. You’ll love her, she’s where I inherited my dry humor from.”

Sirius grinned. “Oh, well, I’ll love her. I’d love to meet her one day, if she knows all about me already.”

Remus smiled from ear to ear. “I have an idea.”

Sirius narrowed their eyes. “Your ideas are either awful or brilliant, Remus, I can’t tell which one this is yet.”

“I’m not sure if you celebrate with the Potter’s but, maybe you could come up to Cardiff with me for Christmas,” Remus said then bit his lip.

“Oh…” Sirius smiled, glancing away for a moment before looking back. “I’d like that. The Potters don’t really celebrate… even if they did they wouldn’t mind me missing, I don’t think.”

“You’d really want to come? She’ll be thrilled. She’s been begging to meet you.” Remus leaned forward a little.

“Can’t disappoint then, can I?” Sirius smiled. “Especially if you’ve told her how wonderful I am.”

“She’s going to freak out.” Remus chuckled. “I also have another idea that may or may not be so brilliant.”

“I’m still listening, I suppose. Let’s hear the less-brilliant idea.” 

Remus scoffed. “I should be offended. Anyway, how about we put this moving in thing on the back burner until New Year. Maybe I could meet the Potter’s before then and after the New Year, we can talk about moving in together again.”

“Yeah, well the Potter’s always do New Year. We can do that? Then… new year, new starts and all the rest. We can talk about it then.” Sirius smiled softly, leaning over to snatch the last strawberry up.

“That sounds like the most amazing plan, love.”

Sirius held out their hand, pinky finger out. “We can talk about things in the new year. Pinky promise?”

Remus hooked his pinky around Sirius’. “Pinky promise.” He brought their hands up to him to kiss Sirius’ knuckles.

Sirius hummed softly. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” Remus pressed a soft kiss to their lips.


	8. Chapter 8

**Sirius! Mary had the baby! All healthy and it’s name is Rowena!**

_ Amazing! We’ll have to go see them once I’m not sick… _🙄😩  
_Rowena is such a lovely name. _

**I have to run, client and all, love. Get some rest. 💖💖**

_ I will. I’ll text Pete, too. Have a good session. _💙

**Entertain me. I’m between private sessions and my last one was terrible. Asshole. I’d rather be at home with you even though you’re all sniffly.**

_ I’m sniffly and horrible and probably still infectious. I’m so mad at Marly for being the kind of person who ‘powers through’ the flu. Who does that!? Sorry your client was an asshole xx _

**I got your Christmas gift last night. ☺️**

_ Ugh, don’t remind me. I’m so bad with gifts, Rem. I have to try and find something for you. I’m frantically googling, if you must know. _

**I’m sure I’m going to love whatever it is. Don’t stress.**

_ I hope so. xxxxx _

**Just get me something to do with rock climbing or sweets and I’ll be fine. I thought you were going to get me chocolate or whatever for every holiday.**

_ Yeah, chocolate. But also something else.  
__Okay, in other news, oh my god. I just tried to google “rock climbing gifts” and had a typo in there… _

**…….Where would this typo be…….**

_ Could’ve, just maybe, put “cock climbing gifts” instead… _

_ _

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂  
**Oh god, Sirius. I can’t stop laughing**

_Me neither. I was SO CONFUSED because i didn’t notice the typo first and now I’m just in bed, sniffling and laughing away._

**I know you love my cock, but I’m sure you don’t need to Google such a thing**

_ I know, I know. Clearly cock on the mind. I’m laughing so much. _

**Oh, look at that first link!**

_ Oh my GOD oh my god is that, that’s a fucking DICK CLIMBING WALL REMUS. IT’S LIKE TWO OF YOUR FAVOURITE THINGS TOGETHER REMUS. OMFGLFGJDLGDHG. _

**We need to go! OH MY GOD! SIRIUS! LOOK AT THE WEBSITE RIGHT NOW!**

_ Is it… is it called GROPE MOUNTAIN?  
__"Eroticising the physicality of climbing for lovers”  
__Omg, Remus. Omgmfmgdg._

**Dear fucking god.**

_ So. This weekend? _

**As long as you’re not all flu-like any longer, I guess.**

_ I am going to go drink my weight in orange juice and tea and get this flu GONE because we need to go to Grope Mountain, Remus. Grope. Mountain. _

**If worse came to worse, we could go to Grope Mountain the weekend after.**

_ I supppoooooseeee. But I wanna go nooooow.   
__…. You know who would love this.  
__Marly and Dorky_

**I was going to say ‘please don’t let it be Marly’**

_ Oh come on, she would be *hilarious* at that place. _

**She will be so… I don’t even know the right words for it…  
****Obscene? Gross?**

_ Obscenely gross? Grossly obscene? I agree.   
__We can pretend not to know her?_

**Ugh, god, I guess we can invite them.  
****I can’t believe this place is a real thing.**

_ I think it will be funny. But we can make it just the two of us, if you want!  
__Me neither, actually? It must be an art project.. Or a social experiment, or *something*_

**No no! Invite them. That way if I’m uncomfortable, Marly can enjoy every moment with you.  
****It has to be something like that. I don’t know why else anyone would want this…**

_ People like *Marly* want this, Remus. And I admit, I’m kind of ridiculously intrigued. Surely, with all your climbing knowledge, trying to get a handhold on boobs would be… difficult, at best. _

**I just snorted.  
****Invite Marly and Dorky and we’ll plan for this weekend.  
****Don’t get mad if I *don’t* want to be there. Cause…**

_ Hey, hey.   
__It’s fine. If it makes you uncomfortable, we won’t go, caro.   
__I don’t think it’s particularly *sexual* …. Apart from the casts of everyone’s genitals… But if you don’t want to go, we don’t have to go. I won’t be mad, I won’t even be a tiny bit mad.  
__I love you_

**Love, I want to go right now.  
****And I know bodies aren’t sexual in themselves.  
****But you know…  
****Ugh. Let’s say we’ll go and we’ll see how we both feel Saturday?  
****This is so fucking ridiculous, I don’t want to miss out.  
****Love you too**

_ It’s not ridiculous. It’s valid. *You’re* valid.  
__See how we feel on Saturday.  
__Love you _😘 

**I love you too, princess ** **😘😘  
****Feel better  
****I’ll see you tonight 💖**


	9. Chapter 9

Remus stopped to pick Sirius up some chicken noodle soup and more tissues before heading to Sirius’ flat. They exchanged keys the other day. Remus thought it was a decent compromise with the moving in debate. He felt bad that he didn’t want to jump right in like Sirius did, but it just felt so fast. There had to be something he could do to slow it all down. Not that he wanted to get out of the relationship  — that was the last thing that he wanted to do. They needed a bit more time though before Remus was ready to move in, no matter how much he wanted it.

Quietly, Remus set his keys down in the bowl before walking all the way into the flat. He found Sirius on the sofa, wrapped in their softest blanket with the TV on low. As softly as he could, Remus inched over to the sofa to see if they were awake because they hadn’t moved. When he got closer he saw two glasses, one half full of orange juice and the other empty. Sirius shifted and looked up at Remus with a sad smile. “Hi, love.” Remus set the soup down on the table before reaching his hand out to see if they were still running a fever.

Sirius huffed a little. “I still feel awful.”

“Aww, baby.” Remus frowned after removing his hand from Sirius’ still warm and clammy forehead. “I got you some soup, want that?”

“Mm, please. I don’t… I think I had some toast, earlier?” Sirius blinked, off kilter a little.

“Okay, I’ll heat it up for you, why don’t you sit up so you can eat it?” Remus suggested, reaching for the soup once more.

“Yeah, okay.” Sirius grumbled and stretched their legs out. “Did you have a good day at work?”

“Yeah, outside of the first private session it was fine.” Remus went into the kitchen. “It was mostly boring.”

“Who was this dick? Were they awful to you?” Sirius’ voice sounded a little muffled like they were burrowed in the sofa still.

“No, they weren’t awful to me, they just didn’t like listening well. It was annoying.” Remus groaned, remembering the person who didn’t want to take any instruction as he got a pot down for the soup.

“Pfft, that’s stupid. Why wouldn’t they listen to their instructor? Stupid, stupid,” Sirius grumbled atop the rustling of the blankets on the sofa.

“Very stupid, why even bother to pay for an instructor is what I want to know?” Remus poured the soup into the pot.

“Exactly!” Sirius exclaimed, before descending into a sneezing fit.

“Bless you, love,” Remus said amidst the sneezing.

“Thank you.” Sirius sounded all bunged up, coughing again before grumbling. “Remus, I’m so sick.”

“I know, Sirius, I’m sorry.” Remus frowned as he turned the stove top on.

“I’m sorry I fell asleep whilst we were texting earlier. I’ve been dozing all day.”

“No, you need to sleep.” Remus stirred the soup. “Are you feeling any better at all?”

“I guess? Better than 4am when I felt so feverish I thought I might actually be dying,” Sirius grumbled, sneezing again.

“Aww,” Remus said because he did feel terrible that his partner felt this way.

“Stupid Marly, coming in with the flu.”

“I can’t believe that she did that. Well, I can.” Remus snickered, grabbing a bowl.

Sirius grumbled again. “I can. Woman is work-devoted, and convinced that kale can save us all from everything. I swear, if she texts me one more kale recipe, I’m gonna scream. It’s a good job I love her.”

“Oh god, she texted me some kale smoothie thing and told me I needed to make you one.” Remus poured the soup into the bowl.

“No!” Sirius coughed again, making an annoyed noise between them. “No kale, oh my god. She’s ridiculous.”

“No, I would never subject you to something like that.” Remus reached for a spoon then took the bowl out to Sirius.

“I would say that smells good — ” Sirius sniffed — “but I can’t smell a fucking thing. Thank you Rem.”

“I didn’t make it but you’re welcome.” Remus handed Sirius the bowl before sitting next to them on the sofa. “Do you need anything else?”

Sirius shook their head, eating a spoonful of soup. “Don’t sit so close, I don’t want you getting sick.”

Remus laughed and leaned over to press a kiss to their cheek. “I think I’m already in danger of getting it being in here with your germs. I also had my tongue in your mouth only hours before you developed a fever.”

“I knowww,” Sirius groaned, eating more soup. “I hope you don’t get sick. For a while then I thought I was just getting a bit giddy from making out, but, no, nooo it’s a fever.” They puffed out their cheeks. “I hate being sick.”

“If I get sick, I get sick.” Remus shrugged. He hoped his flu shot would help him out here. “I hate seeing you sick.”

“Me too! If you get sick though, I’ll have to look after you and I’m not very good at that. So I hope you don’t.” Sirius paused to sneeze, managing to set their bowl on the arm of the sofa just in time.

“I’m sure you’re just fine,” Remus assured them, patting their leg through the blanket.

“You shouldn’t stay tonight… As much as I want to snuggle, I’ll probably keep you awake or make you sick or…” Sirius sighed, leaning their head on his shoulder, their soup sloshing dangerously close to the edge of the bowl.

Remus reached over for the bowl. “Sirius, I’m staying. I don’t have to be at the gym until mid-day tomorrow. Plus, as I said, you’ve exposed me to plenty germs by now.” He chuckled.

“Mmmm, fine. Fine.” Sirius kept their head on his shoulder.

“Did you ask Marly and Dorky about coming with us to Grope Mountain on Saturday?”

“Oh!” Sirius sat upright then groaned and clenched their eyes shut. “No! I forgot, I’m sorry! I woke up and I thought there was something I needed to do but I couldn’t remember.”

“It’s okay,” Remus said, leaning forward to set the bowl on the table. “I’ll text Marly right now.”

“Okay, I’m sorry.” Sirius sneezed again. “I hate being sick.”

“Don’t worry about it, Sirius.” Remus typed out a quick message to Marly about rock climbing at Grope Mountain. “Do you need more water?”

“Yeah, I should, eh?” Sirius rubbed a hand over their face. “I’m so pathetic, oh my god.”

Remus laughed softly, handing Sirius his phone. “Here, hold that and I’ll get you some water.”

“Thank you, my saviour.” Sirius burrowed themselves back into the corner of the sofa, tilting their head to watch Remus as he got up and walked around the sofa towards the kitchen.

“Your saviour? Wow.” Remus chuckled when he got to the sink.

“Mhmm, my saviour. I would be languishing in sickness, tired and cold and hungry and lonely, without you, my love.”

“Dear god,” Remus muttered as his phone dinged with a message. “What’d Marly say?”

Sirius hummed, pausing for a moment. “She says… fucking hell, she says ‘of course i want to go to a not safe for work climbing wall, good god I’ve never wanted anything more, Lupin, are you mad? Dorky and I will be there. Dorky says she’s ‘ready to grab dicks’ and I am going to stick entirely to the female anatomy... Do you think different bodies and sexualities are the different course difficulties?!’” Sirius took a big breath. “God, she even texts like she’s talking a million miles an hour.”

“To be in that woman’s head…” Remus filled the glass with water.

“Right?I hate to say it, she’s got a point though. I wonder if there are different difficulties, you know like the different colours on the climbing wall—god. I’m explaining climbing to the climbing instructor, aren’t I? Oh my goddd.” Sirius carried on mumbling something unintelligible even over the short distance to the kitchen.

“Ha, it’s okay. Love, I looked at it and it doesn’t seem very big. It also looks a bit like a bouldering course, so no ropes.” Remus came back out into the living room.

“I think it’s more for the experience than the climbing, I suppose,” Sirius said, peeking through their fingers where their hands were pressed over their face.

“I’m sure you’re looking forward to all those dicks to grab on to,” Remus joked.

Sirius smiled serenely — though that might’ve been the fever — over the top of their water glass. “Nothing compared to yours, darling.”

“Oh, I know, you’ve waxed poetic about mine on end. It also makes you a genius.” Remus laughed, brushing Sirius’ hair back.

“It does, it does. It’s great. I love it.” Sirius sighed, sinking back into the sofa and dropping their head back, their eyes drifting shut.

Remus grabbed their water. “All right love, let’s go up to bed. You should sleep on the nice mattress.”

“Mmm, I’m comfy here,” Sirius grumbled, but they stretched their legs out and pitched forward again a little.

“Come on, love, I’d love to carry you up, but the ladder.” Remus put an arm around them. “I’ll bring up your water and a cloth for your fever.”

“Okay, okay.” Sirius sighed, standing up and trudging over to the ladder with their blanket trailing behind them. “I hate being sick.”

“I know,” Remus said watching them carefully climb up for a moment before going to the kitchen.

Remus cleaned up the soup before filling the water glass with some fresh water. He also ran to the bathroom to grab a cloth to wet with cool water. It took some negotiating, but Remus got up the ladder without dropping anything. “All right…” He trailed off when he laid eyes on Sirius.

They were face down in bed snoring softly. Remus smiled as he went over to their side of the bed to set the water and cloth down. “Good night, love.” He pressed a kiss to their cheek. He hoped they felt better for Saturday.


	10. Chapter 10

_ Okay, so…  
__I was looking at places to stay for the Pole Comp in Feb. I found an airbnb in Prague that looks lovely.  
__But  
__I ended up looking at flights to Florence… *just* to see, and they are quite cheap…_

**Going all alone to Florence? Send pictures and buy me something good.**

_ Oh ha ha you bastard.  
__Obviously you’re coming with me. You’re coming to the Pole Comp, so you’re coming to Florence.  
__No fun without you.  
__Bet there’s lots of things to climb._

**Hmmmm… maybe….**

_ *Maybe* he says. MAYBE. Look, here’s the place I found in Florence. We can daytrip out to Fiesole or something.  
__Image.jpg  
__Pretty, right? Look at that loft._

**Hmm… there’s also a skylight over the shower 😏**

_ Eagle eyes _😉  
_If you can get the time off, we should go… a few days in Tuscany would be a brilliant ‘Congratulations on the Gold Medal, Sirius’ present…_

**The ego on you.**

😘😘😘😘😘  
_My feverish brain is on the edge of booking flights, Remus.  
__So speak now or forever hold your peace._

**Of course I’m coming, princess.**

_ Correct answer!  
__I’ll book the airbnb in Prague, first. For the Comp. Do you need to check with work or did you have the time off already? I can’t remember.   
__I’m dying, Remus. This flu is going to kill me. Why am I booking flights for like, four months time. I’m going to be dead. _ 😵 

**Oh my god. You’re so bloody dramatic.  
****Lucky I love you.  
****You’re not going to die, Sirius. Your fever was lower this morning when I left.  
****And yes, I had the time off for Prague, I’m sure I can get it for Florence.**

_ The weather will be decent enough in February.   
__Okay. I’m booking. Wish me luck. Thank god for credit cards.  
__Tuscany here we come._

**Don’t go broke, Sirius.  
****How much is it?**

_ Pfft, it’s fine. Present to ourselves, obvi.   
__Gold Medal winner can absolutely afford to go to Tuscany for a sex-filled long weekend with their boyfriend _😉  
_Besides. Remember our first date? We said we wanted to go back._

**🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄🙄  
****All right, I don’t need much convincing.  
****I just don’t want us to not, you know, be able to eat or something**

_If worst comes to worst, we can just hang out with everyone and suggest dinner parties until pay day _😜  
_True friends don’t let you starve even when you’ve spent all your money on a holiday.  
__……  
__How am I an actual adult?_

**Honestly, love, I don’t know.  
****It’s a miracle you’re alive.**

_ I won’t be soon. I’m dying. Make the most of Florence for me.  
__Take your third trophy wife with you and think of me when you’re in the shower._

**Sure, I’ll do just that. 🙄  
****You’re not dying and you’re just a fine adult.  
****None of us have it together, right?**

_ Lily looks as if she does, but she’s actually a huge ball of stress 99% of the time  
__Marly’s instagram is all bullshit… even if she does look that spritely on 5am runs…  
__Frankie and Al are the most put-together, clearly. With their picket fence and Trevor the Beagle.  
__Is this adulthood, just flailing around and pretending you know what you’re doing???_

**Sirius. You’re older than me.  
****Relax.  
****Just put on the television and take another nap.  
****Also, drink some water.**

_ You’re an old soul, Remus. Your soul is like, 100.  
__Okay, okay. I’m sleeping. Shitty soap opera on the telly.  
__Lsg.ggs.gjgsghol;;;ko_

**...you’ve fallen asleep, haven’t you? 🙄🙄  
** **Love you 💖💖💖**


	11. Chapter 11

Sirius was  _ finally _ feeling better. They were back in the studio on Friday to teach, and then had a Saturday morning class before they took the afternoon off to go to this  _ Grope Mountain _ with Remus, Marlene and Dorcas. It was going to be a riot, they were sure. 

Saturday morning’s class went well and Sirius decided to use the twenty minutes before Remus and Dorcas were due to arrive to try and decompress and relax by playing around on the pole. Feeling vaguely inspired by their crop top choice today, Sirius threw on a Prince playlist and just tried to turn off their brain, swinging and spinning, taking it easy but trying to enjoy being back doing what they loved after a few days off.

Sirius was ridiculously thankful for Remus whilst they were ill. He brought them soup and water and urged them up to bed when all Sirius wanted to do was wallow in self-pity on the sofa. Remus let them wallow a little, but then he tried to make them feel better. All without the help of Marlene’s endless kale recipes. 

The music throughout the room, Sirius was just letting loose, not trying to push themselves too hard to try out new moves or difficult combinations, just dancing to Prince. They landed from the pole onto their toes, back against the pole, sliding down it as they — badly — sung along to the music. “I just want your extra time and your, ooohhh,  _ kiss _ .”

“Lovely.” Remus’ voice broke over the music from somewhere behind them.

Sirius spun around, leaning out at arm’s length whilst holding onto the pole, grinning. “Rem! You’re early? Or did I lose track of time…”

“You lost track of time. I watched a little bit of that.” Remus gestured towards the pole. “Nice music choice.”

“Oh yeah?” Sirius climbed up the pole, spinning around a little, waiting until they were facing back to Remus again. “What did you think?”

“That you’re the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen.” Remus grinned at them.

Sirius’ heart bloomed every time Remus said anything like that. They suspected it would never wear off. “Come over here, let me kiss you hello.”

Remus stepped closer to them on the pole. “Quite the appropriate song for that.”

“I just want your extra time and your — ” Sirius leaned down from the pole, grinning wide as they kissed Remus on the mouth. 

“Mmm,” Remus hummed as he kissed back with a hand on their cheek.

Sirius slid down a little, hooking their knee around the pole for grip so they could free up one hand to cup the side of Remus’ neck. “Missed you.”

“Missed you too.” Remus kissed them again, nipping at their bottom lip first.

After a moment, Sirius pulled back, hopping from the pole and shaking out their hands a little. “Ready to go to Grope Mountain?” Sirius said, looping their arms around Remus’ shoulders.

“Yes, let’s go! The girls are meeting us at my car.” Remus bumped their hip with his.

“Okay, let me just change my shirt, hold on.” Sirius pressed a kiss to the corner of Remus’ mouth before stepping back and crossing to their bag to dig out a band tee. They pulled off their crop top and shrugged on an oversized Iron Maiden shirt, flashing Remus a smile as their head poked out the top. “It’s a good job I don’t mind you looking,” they said, biting their lip.

Remus scoffed. “You watched me change after our first date.”

Sirius cocked their head. “True, I suppose.” They padded back over, glancing down at their shirt. “Speaking of, I think I was wearing this the first time we met?”

“You were, I’m not sure because I blacked out.” Remus took their hand. “Ready now?”

“Shit, we were awful weren’t we?” Sirius leaned into him. “Yep, let’s go. Before Marly and Dorky get distracted or caught up in each other, or something stupid.”

“We were terrible. You were actually speechless, that doesn’t happen unless I say something lurid now.” Remus laughed. “Yeah, we better hurry.”

“I try not to let you catch me by surprise anymore, else I’d never get anything done.” Sirius led the way out of the studio, waving goodbye to Hestia and Benjy — who had started taking more classes since Marlene had called him in a while ago — as they left.

“Yeah, still happens. Want me to try?” Remus smirked at them as he twirled his keys in his free hand.

Sirius huffed. “We are about to be stuck in a car with Marly and Dorky, please don’t add  _ horny _ to my list of ever-growing problems.” But secretly, they never could resist lurid, smirking Remus.

“I won’t.” Remus kissed their cheek as they got into view of his car where the girls were chatting.

“Later,” Sirius murmured, grinning. 

“Oh,  _ there _ you two are! Thought you’d gotten caught up,” Dorcas said, her hands on her hips.

“No, Sirius was dancing.” Remus rolled his eyes. “We’re not you.”

Sirius blew Marlene a raspberry as they skirted around the car. “Ready to go grab some dicks, Marly?”

“I’d much rather get my fingers on some boobs. I’ve never grabbed a dick in my life and I’m not starting now.” She gaped at Sirius.

“Don’t look at me like you’re scandalised, Marlene McKinnon, takes more than the mention of dick to do that.” Sirius shot her a grin as they climbed into the passenger seat, Marlene getting into the seat behind them.

“Want me to describe Dorky’s — ”

“NO!” Remus cut Marlene off as he started the engine. “Please god, no.”

Dorcas only responded with a shriek of laughter, like she couldn’t care less if Marlene described her entire anatomy in detail. Sirius probably knew more about Marlene and Dorcas’ sex life than they did their own, somehow.

Sirius turned in their seat to look at Dorcas. “Can’t you at least  _ try _ and keep her in line?”

“Nope,” Dorcas replied, with a big grin on her face. “I love her best when she’s being horrific.”

“I love you too, baby.” Marlene leaned across the seat and gave Dorcas a sloppy kiss.

“Jesus Christ,” Remus muttered as he started to drive. “Music?”

Sirius slumped into their seat and retrieved their phone to find something to listen to. Not Prince, that would only make the sloppy kissing worse. Maybe thrash metal, would that help?

The rest of the car ride was fairly uneventful. Sirius passed their phone around to appease song requests by the girls and they were — somehow — listening to ABBA by the time Remus parked up at the warehouse where Grope Mountain was, apparently.

“C’mon, let’s go, I’m excited to see this,” Sirius said, sliding out of their seat.

“I’m sure, got to see all those dicks and stuff.” Remus laughed as he followed Sirius’ lead.

“The tits and ass and pussy is where it’s at.” Marlene shut her door behind her.

Sirius shook their head, heading through the large doors.

Dorcas ribbed Remus for bringing his own climbing shoes as the other three exchanged their footwear for rental shoes. Remus turned his nose up and said he wouldn’t wear rental climbing shoes if his life depended on it. Soon they were all through in the main area, which, exactly as expected, was a group of climbing walls made entirely of various body part casts. It was a little overwhelming, and frankly, jarring, to turn your head and see the cast of a dick just  _ there _ on the wall like it was no big deal. Marlene and Dorcas were immediately laughing and went over to one of the smaller walls. Marlene was adamant to avoid all the dicks, bless her.

Remus, predictably, went straight for the tallest section of the wall, Sirius following. If they were going to climb Grope Mountain, Sirius wanted to at least be in Remus’ vicinity to see how the man dealt with the unusual handholds.

“This looks like it’s going to be interesting.” Remus pointed to one of the rather large dicks.

Sirius swallowed a laugh as they followed Remus up to the base of the wall. “Oh yeah?” 

Remus got one foot on the wall before one of the course instructors came over and interrupted him. “Er, good afternoon sirs. I’m afraid we’ll need to get you hooked up to the ropes before you can start climbing. Won’t take a minute though.”

Sirius bit their lip at the  _ sirs _ , knowing that they didn’t mean anything by it, knowing they were in shorts and a tee, but it still felt wrong.

“I don’t think I need to be on the ropes.” Remus furrowed his brow and then looked over at Sirius.

“It’s the rules, sir, for health and safety, I’m afraid.” The instructor looked between them, as if there was something they were missing.

Sirius shrugged a shoulder, nodding to someone else up on the course on the belay. “Not your domain, Rem, you might have to play nice.”

“I’m internationally ranked in bouldering.” Remus had a slight whine to his voice.

“That’s great, you’ll have a brilliant time. But it’s health and safety, for our insurance. You have to, sir.” The instructor looked between them again and for some reason it rankled Sirius. Who were they, Remus’ keeper? 

“Fu  — Fine, put me on the damn ropes.” He rolled his eyes.

Sirius had to suppress a little chuckle at Remus’ face whilst the instructor helped him into the harness, no matter how odd they were feeling. Remus practically pushed their hands away and did it himself. Sirius bit their lip, watching him with a fond smile, before the instructor stepped over to them, looking a little flustered. Sirius almost wanted to apologise for Remus, but they didn’t. He was allowed to be frustrated at being taught how to do something he did every day over and over. The instructor helped Sirius into the harness and although Sirius also knew exactly where every strap went now too, they indulged them and let them do their job.

“There you are, sir. Ready to go. Have a great time.” The instructor shot Sirius a smile they had to really  _ try _ to give back. It was  _ stupid _ how much  _ sir _ made their insides twist. They had a man’s body and were dressed in masculine clothing today, so it shouldn’t have bothered them, but it  _ did _ . Sirius wasn’t a man, they weren’t a  _ sir _ and it made them feel queasy whenever it happened, no matter how well intentioned the other person was.

“This is fucking stupid,” Remus complained, gesturing to the belay with one hand before he started to climb.

Sirius smiled tightly. “You gotta, caro. It’s for their insurance, they said. You can still have fun with it on, can’t you?”

“Yeah, but… what’s the challenge?”

“I guess. Just forget it’s there, then you’ll think you’ll still fall, right?” Sirius bit their lip, reaching for a handhold and trying not to concentrate on how ridiculously  _ massive _ those boobs were.

“It’s still annoying.” He grabbed the handhold of the ass above him. “Want to race?”

“You’ll win, babe, you always win. Even with ridiculously phallic handholds.” Sirius placed their foot on a dick, wincing.

“Babe?” Remus snickered as he picked his way up the ridiculous wall.

Sirius kept on Remus’ tail as well as they could, trying not to think about the kind of itching under their skin that was still there after being called  _ sir _ . “I dunno, it just came out. Leave me alone,” they said, sounding good-natured at least.

“You’ve never called me that before, just odd.” Remus’ pace increased a bit.

“Okay, sorry.” Sirius bit their lip, pausing to try and see where to go next that didn’t involve just grabbing onto labia. That was the only option, apparently.

“Don’t apologize, I’m just giving you a hard time.”

Sirius shook their head, knowing to a point they were just being overly tetchy and thrown off balance. They were more unnerved than they expected being surrounded by genitals and bodies. Sirius was around so much skin for work, around people in tiny shorts and tiny crop tops and wore their own tiny shorts and tiny crop tops, but this was too much. This, today, made Sirius feel like their body was just  _ wrong _ . Like their skin didn’t fit or they were just hyper aware that sometimes they were fine with a dick or sometimes they wanted nothing to do with it or sometimes they wanted boobs or sometimes they wanted a vagina or sometimes they wanted nothing at all and sometimes they didn’t even want a body at all. They could ignore it most of the time and enjoy their body for what it did  _ well _ — it danced well, it moved well, it got them places and didn’t stop working too often, it made Remus smile and want to kiss them and, when he was in the mood, turned him on. Sirius’ body did them well. But here, surrounded by casts of bodies, all brightly coloured and obscene, it felt like the whole world was screaming  _ pick one and stop playing pretend _ . It felt far too…  _ binary _ . Everything here boiled down to bodies as sexes and genders and something that Sirius rarely had a grasp on anyway. 

Not only that, but everyone was laughing and joking, grabbing at everything and being obscene. It felt too reductive, it felt like everything here was only for sex. It felt like everything was thinking, whispering, murmuring, shouting  _ your primary purpose is sex, you whore _ . Sirius didn’t even want to think about how Remus might be feeling, all this  _ sex _ shoved in his face, but Sirius didn’t want any either. They bet everyone was thinking  _ oh, he’s having fun, grabbing dicks, the pretty boy, the slut. _

Sirius paused halfway up the climb, leaning into a handhold — not looking at it, they didn’t care what it was — to free up their other hand to rub across their face. Their fingers came away smudged with the remnants of mascara and for some reason that made their stomach turn even more. “Jesus…” Sirius wiped their hand against their shorts; they’d forgotten they’d put it on this morning and now it felt ridiculous and like they were a boy playing dress-up. 

_ Okay, Sirius. Let’s just do this, then we can go home _ , they tried to tell themselves, letting out a long breath through their nose and just trying to concentrate on climbing and  _ not _ crying.

“Oi! Sirius!” Marlene called from somewhere below them, breaking their thoughts. “You must be loving grabbing all these dicks! I don’t even like dicks, so you must be in heaven!”

Sirius cringed as Marlene’s voice rang through the air. She was never quiet and this was no exception and now everyone thought Sirius was a whore even if they didn’t think it beforehand.  _ Of course _ , they were loving grabbing dicks, why the fuck wouldn’t they? When they looked like they did and acted like they did and did what they did for a living and was all over Remus at every opportunity. “Oh,  _ ha ha _ , Marly,” Sirius called back, trying to make their voice as strong as possible. “Go grab all the tits, would you?”

“Oh, I will! I’ve grabbed plenty already.” Marly laughed, oblivious to how Sirius was feeling. Sirius knew she was just laughing and being her usual ridiculous self, but today it was getting under their skin. 

Deciding to ignore Marlene, Sirius focused on the wall, climbing as best they could, trying to relish in the good things their body could do even if they couldn’t decide what the hell it was meant to be. At the top of the wall, Sirius glanced around, looking for Remus to see if he was enjoying himself.

Remus was already making his way back down the wall with a bit of a smile on his face. He didn’t appear to be bothered by the  _ sex _ being shoved in their faces. The only issue he was probably having was being on the belay.

Sirius came down the wall, half letting the belay take their weight and half picking their way down, biting their lip. At the bottom, they eased past Remus, only meeting his gaze for a moment to murmur, “Just going to the loo.” Maybe they just needed a moment of quiet to sit and breathe, to try and clear their thoughts. 

In the corridor outside of the main climbing area, though, Sirius came to a stop. Of  _ course _ the bathrooms were gendered. Sirius didn’t want either of those. Neither of them were right.  _ Just go in the mens _ said the voice in their head, but they  _ couldn’t _ . Sirius let out a sigh and leaned against the wall, trying not to just  _ cry _ .

“Love?” Remus’ voice echoed down the corridor.

Sirius gave a surreptitious sniff and looked up, smiling tightly. “Hi, Rem. Sorry, I’m just…” They trailed off, not quite sure what to say, what were they? They had no idea.

Remus’ face fell as he got closer to Sirius. “What’s the matter?”

“I dunno.” Sirius shrugged one shoulder, rubbing a hand over their face. “I think I might still be a bit sick?”

“You’ve been fine the last few days.” Remus furrowed his brow. “Is it something else?”

Sirius dropped their hand from their face to rub over their other arm. “I just… I — I don’t want to be in my skin right now.”

“Oh, love, can… do you want a hug?” Remus leaned against the wall.

“Yeah,” Sirius mumbled, nodding a little. “I think so.”

Remus wrapped his arms around them, pulling them close and pressing a kiss into their hair. “Let’s go home.”

Sirius shook their head, resting their head on his shoulder. “We’ve only just got here.”

‘I don’t care, you’re not comfortable. The girls can either Uber home or they can leave with us. We’ll tell them you’re not feeling good if you want.” Remus rubbed their back.

“Okay.” Sirius heaved a sigh. They had ruined the evening. “Yes please.”

“Why don’t go to the car, and I’ll go get them?” Remus moved back a little, but was still holding on to Sirius.

“Yeah.” Sirius moved back just enough that they could unbuckle their harness. They didn’t want the instructor anywhere near them. “Okay. Thank you.”

Remus took the harness from them, grabbing their hand for a moment. “We’ll go back to yours and go make a nest in all of the blankets.”

“Yours. Can we go back to yours?” Sirius crossed their arms over their stomach, trying not to just rub at their face or their arms.

“Whatever you want,” Remus said softly. “The keys are in the locker with your shoes.”

Sirius nodded. “See you at the car.” Sirius put their hand on his arm for a moment before padding down the corridor towards the reception and lockers. They exchanged their shoes for their trainers and couldn’t stop the voice in their head that made them  _ sure _ the instructor at reception was thinking  _ why is he leaving, I thought he’d love a place like this. _

In the back of Remus’ car they found a hoodie of his from PureFit, one that must’ve been worn climbing outside at some point because it was a little muddy around the cuffs and all frayed around the edges. Sirius pulled it on and climbed into the passenger seat of the car, trying not to think about how they’d ruined what was meant to be a fun evening.

Not much later, Remus came to the car with Marlene and Dorcas. The girls were much more subdued than they were earlier. Remus didn’t seemed to be annoyed that Sirius was making them leave. “Okay, we’ll drop them off at their flat then go home, love.” Remus smiled over at them.

“Thank you,” Sirius murmured, before glancing in the rear view mirror to the girls. “Sorry, guys.”

“Don’t worry, Sirius, you need to take care of yourself.” Marlene’s voice was soft.

Sirius bit their lip and reached back over their seat to take Marlene’s hand. She squeezed their fingers together for a moment before patting the back of Sirius’ hand. Marlene was rarely this quiet; she must’ve realised something was wrong.


	12. Chapter 12

Remus hated that Sirius was feeling this way. He understood it to some extent, not being completely comfortable with who they were. This was the first time that he had seen them so uncomfortable and dysphoric. It felt like there was nothing that Remus could do to help them either. It felt like Sirius knew exactly what to do for Remus when he was uncomfortable, but Remus was at a loss.

He dropped Marlene and Dorcas off at their flat then they went back to Remus’. Remus was somewhat surprised they wanted to go back to his, and not their own flat. When Remus felt like shit, he wanted to be in his own bed, under his own blankets. Remus wasn’t going to say no, of course, it was what Sirius wanted and Remus was going to do everything possible to make sure that they felt good.

When they got back to Remus’ flat, Sirius went straight for the sofa, kicking off their trainers before sitting down. Remus looked to them as he hung up his coat, trying to figure out what he could do. “Tea, love?” He offered. “Something to eat?”

“Mm, tea please?” They paused before making to stand up. “I’ll come and make it.”

“You sure?” Remus felt like he needed to fix this, but he couldn’t.

Sirius bit their lip before standing properly and starting over to the kitchen. “Got to do something useful,” they said quietly, shoving their hands in the pockets of Remus’ hoodie.

“How about, you make the tea and I’ll go gather every blanket and pillow I own and we can put on a movie or something?”

“Yeah.” Sirius filled the kettle up, glancing back to Remus as they flicked it on. “Yes please.”

Remus gave a nod then went to his bedroom. He gathered up every pillow then blanket he could find, especially the fuzzy fleece one he favored when it was freezing out and Sirius tended to wrap themselves in often.

When he went back to the living room, Sirius was still fixing the tea, so Remus laid out on the blankets on the sofa. After he turned the TV on, and tried to find the fluffiest movie possible. “What do you want to watch?” Remus questioned as Sirius came out with their tea.

Sirius set their tea down on the coffee table before tucking themselves into the corner of the sofa, sliding their feet under the edge of the fuzzy fleece. “Mmm, School of Rock? I love Jack Black…”

“Sure! That sounds perfect.” Remus grinned as he went to search for it. It was a favorite of his. As soon as it was on, Remus picked his mug up from the table and settled into the blankets next to Sirius. “Do you want to cuddle?”

Sirius bit their lip before nodding, their hands wrapped around their mug. “Yeah.” They gingerly stretched their legs out under the blankets. “Cuddle sounds nice.”

Remus moved so he could put his free arm around Sirius. “I know you said you don’t like to be touched when you’re feeling like this sometimes, so… just let me know, okay?”

“Yeah. I’m… I just don’t like…” Sirius shrugged, letting their head fall on Remus’ shoulder. “It just feels shit. I don’t like how I feel, I’m frustrated at myself and there’s no way to make it better.”

“I’m sorry you feel this way.” He rubbed their arm. “I wish I could say something to make it better.”

“I… Everything at the climbing hall was just… like…  _ sex, gender, genitals, look at this dick _ … And... “ Sirius shrugged again. “It’s just… makes me annoyed that I can’t… decide.”

“You shouldn’t have to decide.” Remus frowned.

“Feels like it. Try to go to the loo and I have to choose, too.”

“I wish I could fix that.”

“Me too, I guess.” Sirius took a long drink of their tea, eyes drifting back over to the television. “Did you like the hall?”

Remus shrugged. “It was fine. I didn’t need the belay.”

Sirius gave him half a smile. “I could tell. You were annoyed with them, Mr. I’m Internationally Ranked in Bouldering.”

He flushed with a little laugh. “God, I can’t believe I said that. I sounded like an arse.”

“You were cute.”

“I was a dick. Do you think when I’m a jerk, I’m cute? God, if someone came into PureFit and acted like that I’d be talking about them forever.” Remus wasn’t sure what came over him back at the wall. It just wasn’t super challenging and he would have been fine.

Sirius chuckled, letting their head drop back onto Remus’ shoulder. “I think you were wanting to assert your dominance a little, don’t you?”

“I’m not usually like that!” Remus took a sip of his tea. “I’m sure I looked like a twat and they’ll be talking about me forever.”

“Mm and then they saw you climb and thought  _ oh _ , he’s allowed to be a dick, look at him.” Sirius tilted their head back, smiling at him a little.

Remus rolled his eyes. “Sure.”

Sirius turned back to the television, nudging a bit closer to Remus and letting out a low sigh. They watched the movie quietly for a while, until Sirius stood up and padded into the kitchen, the fleece blanket still around their shoulders.

“Getting something to eat?” Remus asked without looking away from the movie.

“Not quite,” Sirius said, returning a moment later with a bottle of whisky and pouring a slug into their now-empty tea mug. “Want some?”

Remus’ brows went up. He felt like Sirius probably shouldn’t be drinking away their feelings, but they were an adult and it wasn’t as if they did this all the time. “Yeah.”

Remus’ mug got a pour of whisky before Sirius set it on the coffee table and sat down next to Remus again, their mug in their hands. They weren’t quite tucked as close as they were before, but weren’t trying to put distance between them, he didn’t think. Sirius took a long sip of their whisky, eyes fixed on the television.

“Do you want to talk about it anymore…” Remus could tell something was off as he reached for his own mug.

Sirius chewed their lip between sips of their whisky, tucking themselves up as small as possible, knees to their chest. “I don’t know… I don’t… I just feel like shit.”

“What do you normally do when you feel like this?” Remus took a drink of his whisky then chewed at his nails.

“Nothing really,” Sirius said. Remus saw them glance his way. “Just… put on my big comfy hoodie, curl up on the sofa and wait until I feel better again.” They took another drink of their whisky. “Doesn’t happen so often. I’m usually okay but… I dunno, things got to me today.”

“I’m sure they did.” Remus nodded. God, why couldn’t he say all the right things like Sirius did?

Sirius sniffed, looking back to the television. “Feel like everything wants me to pick and I can’t. Or else everything about sex and gender is just thrown in my face all the time and I have no clue what to do with any of it.”

“I know it feels that way, but I don’t want you to pick. Marly doesn’t, Dorky, Al, Lily, James… everyone who loves and cares about you don’t care.” Remus turned towards them a little.

Sirius took a long drink from their mug and set it down. “ Fuck all of this, I hate it. I just want to be me and not worry about whether I feel masc, or femme, or whether some dick is gonna tell me I’m not gay enough because I’m fluid.” They ran a hand their through their hair, sniffing a little. “Or if some old lady is gonna give me a dirty look for wearing a skirt. Or if some weirdo at a Pole Comp. oversteps their bounds, because wearing teeny shorts and dancing provocatively means I absolutely put out at the drop of a hat. Because it means I am here for one purpose and I’m  _ not _ .”

“I know, and how you feel is so completely valid.” Remus took another drink of his whisky. “No one should be making you feel like this.”

Sirius nodded, eyes drifting to their lap. “I know no one who matters cares… but it feels like I do sometimes. I just want to be…  _ normal _ , sometimes.”

“However you feel when you feel good about yourself is better than anything society dictates as bloody normal.” Remus waved a hand.

“Is it worth it though? Wouldn’t it just be easier to be a man?”

“No, it’s not worth it to sell yourself short on who you are. Would you honestly be happy if you were a man? Would you be happier, Sirius?”

Sirius stared at their lap for a moment before shaking their head. “No. No, I don’t think so. Even when I feel really masculine I think I’d still cringe at it.”

“Then would that be easier for you to say you were a man?” Remus leaned forward.

“No.”

“Then there’s your answer. Whatever you decide, however you feel, I’ll support you. I just wish the rest of the world would get their heads out of their asses.” Remus scoffed.

Sirius nodded, then shuffled closer to Remus and cuddled up to his side, their head on his shoulder. “Me too.” They pressed their mouth to his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“I love you, Sirius.”

“I love you too.”

Remus wrapped his arm around them again and they continued to watch the movie. When it finished Remus nudged Sirius. “Want to grab something to eat?”

“Mm, I suppose we should.” Sirius stifled a yawn. “Can I stay here tonight?”

“Of course you can.” Remus pressed a kiss to their cheek. “Come on, let’s find something quick to eat then we can go lie down, huh?”

“That sounds nice.” Sirius stretched their legs out. “Toasties?”

“Perfect, want to help?”

“Yeah, I’ll slice the cheese. You never get it right,” Sirius said, smiling slightly as they stood up.

“I’m highly offended!” Remus joked as he pushed himself off the sofa.

“You should be, your toasties are offensive.” Sirius went through to the kitchen with the fleece blanket still around their shoulders.

Remus scoffed as they went for the bread. “I’ll never make them for you again.”

“How will I ever manage?” Sirius said dryly, slicing cheese. 

“You’re the worst.” Remus laughed.

They worked together to make the toasties, since Sirius didn’t think Remus could manage on his own. When they were done, they took them into bed. Remus retrieved all the blankets from the sofa and joined them in bed to eat their toastie. “Okay, are we missing anything?” Remus asked as he was fluffing his pillow up.

Sirius took a bite of their toastie, half buried under blankets and finally looking a little more like themselves, despite their red eyes. “No, I don’t think so.”

“Okay.” Remus got under the blankets before grabbing his plate off the side table. “Are you feeling a bit better?”

“Yeah, a bit. Hoping I’ll wake up feeling like this body is mine again tomorrow,” Sirius said, lifting the blankets with their other hand to help Remus under. They wriggled a little closer, not as pressed close as usual but closer.

“I wish I knew how to fix it all, especially how you’re feeling.” Remus frowned before taking a bite.

“You just being here, accepting me for me… even when I don’t, really helps. I guess—I guess I can’t be that  _ wrong _ if someone like you loves me.”

“You’re not wrong at all.” Remus patted their knee through all the blankets.

Sirius just nodded, chewing their toastie and looking a little thoughtful.

“Want to talk about Christmas a little?” Remus smiled, hoping it was okay to change the subject. It didn’t seem like Sirius wanted to talk much more about it.

“Yeah,” Sirius said. “What do you two usually do?”

Remus shrugged. “Whatever, we always watch a movie Christmas Eve. I’m sure mam will want you to pick. We have a good dinner Christmas. She’s working Boxing Day, so it will be just us two until the night. I’m not sure what we’ll do that night.”

“That sounds lovely. We can just relax, maybe go on a walk through the countryside or something… Is she even  _ in _ the country? My geography is so bad. I’m such a city dweller.”

“She’s just outside of Cardiff, not really country at all. We could even go into the city if you want.” Remus suggested to them.

“ _ Oh _ .” Sirius laughed a little, biting their lip. “Whatever we do will be good.”

“I talked to her last night and she won’t shut up about how excited she is to meet you.” Remus grinned before finished his toastie.

“I’m sure you’ve told her all lies.”

“No way.” Remus laughed, setting his plate aside. “I can’t lie to her, it’s impossible.”

“I can’t wait to meet her either. I’d love to see where you grew up and hear what you were like.” Sirius finished their own toastie, setting their plate on top of Remus’.

Remus had the sudden realization that his mother was probably going to break out the photo albums and tell Sirius every embarrassing story. Thankfully she redid his room so it didn’t look like his childhood room. “God, I don’t mind you seeing where I grew up but I’m not looking forward to the stories.”

Sirius nestled down into the blankets, pulling on up around their shoulders and smiling at Remus. “I am. I want to hear all of them.”

“No, you really don’t. James and the Potters need to give me more stories.”

“James and I were perfect children,” Sirius said smugly. “No stories there.”

“HA! I find that hard to believe I can’t wait until New Year!” Remus slid under the blankets next to Sirius.

“Oh, the hardship.” 

“I’m sure you and James got up to so much when you were younger.” Remus rolled over and put an arm over Sirius’ middle.

Sirius hummed softly, not quite agreement or disagreement, and Remus glanced over to see their eyes closed. “I will neither confirm or deny, Rem.”

“Sure love.” Remus kissed their cheek. “I love you.”

“Love you too.” Sirius turned their head and kissed Remus’ temple. “G’night.”

“Night.” Remus sighed. He wasn’t even remotely tired, it was still fairly early, but he didn’t mind just laying in bed with Sirius. He knew how exhausting it was to feel like shit about yourself. Remus knew it would get better, and hopefully by Christmas Sirius would be themselves again.


	13. Chapter 13

Christmas came around quickly. Sirius blinked and the studio was covered in tinsel and baubles. They blinked again and it was the 23rd of December and their bag to take to Wales was sitting in the office. They blinked again and they were pulling up outside of a house on the edge of Cardiff, with some awful rendition of  _ Little Drummer Boy _ on the radio after Spotify wouldn’t play with bad signal.

Sirius let out a breath. They were anxious to meet Hope, but she seemed lovely from what Remus said, and had heard all about Sirius from him. Remus was sure the two of them would get along. 

“Are you okay?” Remus looked over at Sirius with a little nervous smile.

“Yeah… Just a bit nervous. It’s freezing though, let’s get out of the car.” Sirius shoved their hands in their coat pockets and gave Remus a more concrete smile. “You alright?”

“A little nervous, I’ve never brought anyone home. So… yes. Okay, let’s go, I’m going to freeze to death if we don’t.” Remus agreed, opening his door.

“You’ve never brought anyone home before? Oh god…” Sirius slipped from the car and grabbed their bag from the seat behind. The house was so quaint looking compared to the city and the Potters.

Remus shook his head as he took their bags out of the back of the car. “No, I’ve never… never felt like I loved anyone enough to do that.”

Sirius melted a little as they skirted around the car to catch Remus’ hand. “Hey…” They leaned up to kiss the corner of his mouth, smiling softly. “I’m glad for it.”

“Me too.” Remus kissed them back quickly as the door to the home opened behind them.

“Come on, you two, out of the cold!” came a very Welsh voice from the doorstep and Sirius hung back a little to let Remus have a reunion with his mother first.

“Is there a fire on because it’s so cold?” Remus asked as he got up to the door.

“Remus, you’re not going to say hello first?” Hope shook her head before wrapping her arms around Remus. “I’ve missed you so much.”

“I’ve missed you too, mam.” He kissed her on the cheek before pulling back. “This is Sirius.”

Sirius forced a smile onto their face and stepped forward a little. “Hi, Mrs. Lupin. It’s lovely to meet you.”

‘It’s Hope, dear!” She gave him a bone crushing hug. “Come on, come in before you really do freeze. I’m so happy that you’re here!”

“Thank you for having me.” Sirius hugged her back, a little bowled over by how nice she was. The house was so brightly coloured and smelled of patchouli and the woman Sirius was hugging smelt of patchouli too. Everything seemed so homey.

“Oh, you’re welcome, of course.” Hope smiled, ushering them both through to the living room. “Remus, how’s Mary, dear?”

“Don’t you two natter enough on the astral plane?” Remus snorted as laughed as he negotiated both bags inside.

“Pshh, that’s not the same.” Hope waved her hand in Remus’ direction. “Sit down, make yourselves at home. I’ve had the mulled wine on to… well, mull, all day. Should we have a glass?”

Sirius stood next to the sofa, looking around at everything on the walls, macrame plant pots and paintings that looked like they were done by children, all brightly coloured and with finger marks. The sofas were covered in crocheted throws and the fireplace, where a fire was roaring nicely, was surrounded by mosaic tiles. Sirius realised Hope was waiting for  _ them _ for an answer. “Oh, yes, sure?”

“Mam, I’m going to show Sirius the room and drop these in there.” Remus pointed to the luggage.

“Yes, dear, that’s fine. I’ll get the drinks.” Hope smiled again between Sirius and Remus.

“Come on, love, this way.” Remus nodded towards the stairs.

Sirius stepped aside to let Remus lead the way, following him up the steep staircase to the small landing above. Every bit of the house was so character-filled.

“I’m sorry, my room isn’t embarrassing, it’s been redone but there is a bigger bed now.” Remus said as they went through into the first door.

“Aw.” Sirius put on their best pout. “You mean we don’t get to snuggle up in a single bed and look at your glow in the dark dinosaur wallpaper?”

“Nope, it’s just more hippy-like things styled by my mother.” Remus flipped the lights on.

“I didn’t realise she was such a hippy, Rem. How did you end up so… you?”

“I feel like I should be offended.” He put the bags at the end of the bed.

“No, no,” Sirius murmured, wrapping their arms around his middle. “I love you just how you are. On the surface you’re just… nothing like your mother.”

Remus laughed, pressing a kiss to their cheek. “I know what you mean, don’t worry. Deep down, my mam and I have a lot in common. I guess on the surface, I’m more like my dad.”

“Yeah… I wish I’d met him. But I’m excited to hear all about your childhood.” Sirius squeezed Remus’ waist a little. It was strange to think of Remus growing up in this room, and being back here now.

“She’s probably got the photo albums out now.” Remus rolled his eyes. “We should get down there.”

Sirius grinned. “Yes! I want mulled wine and photo albums.” They gave Remus a quick kiss before starting out of the room again towards the stairs.

Remus hurried after them. “By the way, she grows her own weed.”

“Eh?” Sirius paused with one foot on the top step, glancing back to Remus over their shoulder. “Really?” They shook their head, grinning. “Your mum’s a badass, Remus.”

“She really is. The first time she caught me smoking, she was more upset that it wasn’t hers because  _ God, Remus John you don’t know what could be in that _ .” He mimicked his mum’s voice.

Sirius chuckled. “I bet. Why go anywhere else when you’ve got home-grown, surely?” They paused again further down the stairs. “Hold on, did you used to be a massive stoner?”

Remus shrugged. “I don’t think massive.”

“Holy shit, Remus Lupin you are full of surprises. I think I’ve smoked weed a handful of times and they were all a bit shit. James won’t hear it that I think it was just oregano the last time.” Sirius started down the stairs again, marvelling at all of Remus’ new depths. True, Sirius knew he had a bit of a mischievous, sly streak, but they didn’t think it would’ve manifested into him being a rebel as a teenager.

“All right, go on. I’ll talk to James about that oregano the next time I see him.” Remus waved his hand down the stairs.

Sirius grinned to themselves. “He won’t hear it. Says it was the weirdest night of his life but that’s because we tried watching Poltergeist and he was shit scared and he needed to blame it on  _ something. _ ”

“I can’t wait to give him shit.”

“Remus John, who are you giving shit?” Hope said from the living room. She was setting down a tray of cake and mulled wine as Sirius and Remus came into the room.

“James, you know Sirius’ brother, he thought he was smoking weed once and Sirius was sure it was oregano.” Remus snickered, reaching for a glass. “Oh, is that chocolate cake?”

Sirius was a little taken aback by the frank way Remus and Hope talked to each other. Euphemia was always a resolutely mother figure who would’ve reprimanded them for smoking  _ anything _ , and the less said about Walburga the better. It was strange to be so open, but Hope seemed lovely, and, accurately, a complete badass. 

“Yes, it’s chocolate.” She smiled then looked to Sirius. “So, are you interested in photos and embarrassing stories about Remus, dear?”

“Yes! I’m so ready for photos and embarrassing stories. Tell me everything.” Sirius sipped at their mulled wine. “Did you make this, Hope? It’s great.”

Hope nodded as she drank her own mulled wine. “I make it every year, don’t I, Remus?” She set her glass down and moved to the bookshelves, running her fingers along rows of what Sirius realised were photo albums. 

They shot a look at Remus, who was looking a little pink. Maybe he was embarrassed about Sirius seeing his childhood, but he smiled back at Sirius and reached out to put a hand on their knee as he helped himself to cake.

Hope sat herself on the other side of Sirius with two photo albums in her lap. “These are the best ones,” she said gleefully, flipping one album open to show a young Remus, maybe 4 or 5, wearing a very brightly coloured tracksuit.

“Oh my god look at you, Remus!” Sirius leaned closer to the album, grinning. “You’re so cute!”

“Sure.” Remus was already finishing a slice of cake.

Sirius bumped his knee with theirs. “So cute.”

Hope laughed from next to Sirius, flipping through a few pages, Remus at a costume birthday party as a bumblebee, Remus with who must’ve been Lyall at a fun fair, Remus reading books inches thick at 7.

“Remus, why don’t you roll us a joint.” Hope looked over to her son.

Sirius absolutely, categorically didn’t choke on their mulled wine, nor was it obvious. Hope was a  _ total _ badass. They pointedly studied the next few pages of the photo album, unsure on getting involved in the conversation.

“Yeah, sure.” Remus got up from the sofa and went off to the kitchen then came back only a minute later.

Sirius tucked their foot under Remus’ thigh as he sat back down, looking through the photo album still. This felt so strange, but oddly, so right? They’d only ever met one other boyfriend’s parents before and it wasn’t Christmas and they definitely didn’t get high. Sirius glanced away from the photo album to see Remus rolling a joint. Oh. It was a long-standing joke—although was it really a joke at this point—that Sirius had a thing for Remus’ hands, but they really were gorgeous. Especially doing something as intricate as rolling a joint, and he made that look easy too, just like the piano, just like climbing. Sirius shifted a little, trying to look determinedly back at the photo album.

“So, Sirius, tell me about yourself a little,” Hope suggested as they continued to look at the photo album.

Sirius bit their lip, dragging their gaze back to Hope when they just wanted to watch Remus’ hands… “Er… oh god. I don’t know where to start. Dare I ask what Remus has told you?”

“Oh, well, that you’ve just turned 28, you’re a dance instructor and you both met a pole competition. He apparently bungled that up as well as bungling things up when he went off to Germany. Really, you just sound so lovely. I know my son can be a closed book at times, but it sounds like you’re a good person. You care about him a lot.” She nodded.

“Jesus,” Remus muttered next to them just before there was the sound of a lighter.

Sirius could feel their face getting redder, and they managed a little laugh at Remus’ voice before glancing back to Hope. “Yeah, I do care about him a lot. He’s not a closed book, just gotta know how to get him to talk, I think… And besides, we both messed up when we first met, both of us thought it had gone wrong when it hadn’t, really. Right, Rem?” Sirius glanced to Remus again, smiling softly. Oh for fuck’s—really, they were torn between flustered and red because Hope was being so lovely and flustered and red because not only was Remus  _ rolling _ a joint ridiculously attractive but him smoking it was stupidly attractive too!

Remus nodded, holding the joint out to Sirius. “Yeah, but I sort of was the one to start it off.”

Sirius shrugged, taking the joint. “You were just being Standard Moony, like Al says. We fixed it, anyway.” They took a drag of the joint before holding it out to Hope, trying not to think how utterly not-normal this was. “We were both a bit stupid.”

“Well, what else should I know about you, dear?” Hope took the joint.

“I think you know everything important. Dance and pole instructor, own a studio with one of my close friends and part of a charity with another friend too. Grew up in London, didn’t end up going to University… dance has always been my thing, really.” Sirius put a hand on Remus’ knee, rubbing their thumb over his jeans.

“Mam, Sirius has an amazing record collection.” Remus grinned over at them.

“Oh! Yeah,” Sirius said, laughing a little. “Monty, my adoptive Dad, he’s big into records and my brother isn’t, so he gave them all to me.”

“How many records do you suppose you have?” Hope gave the joint back to Sirius.

“Shit… er…” Sirius glanced to Remus, trying to visualise their bookcases. “I don’t have a clue… around 500 maybe? Anything vaguely important to music or… well, Monty likes jazz and Motown too so there’s a lot of that.”

“Remus loves jazz! It’s all he used to play on the piano we used to have.” Hope patted Sirius’ leg.

“Aw, you guys don’t have a piano anymore?” Sirius smiled at Hope, then flashed a smile to Remus. To be fair, that was a probably a good idea, given Remus was rolling joints too.

“No, we sold it.” Remus shrugged, taking the joint from Sirius.

“What do you do, Hope?” Sirius said, purposefully not watching Remus take another drag of the joint.

“I manage a bookstore.” Hope sat back.

“It’s not just a bookstore, they sell so much hippy shit there.”

“Remus, it is not hippy shit.” Hope rolled her eyes. “You’re still a little punk at heart.”

Sirius sputtered over their wine. “Hold on, hold on. Remus, a  _ punk?” _

Hope laughed and stood up. “Yes! Let me find that photo album!”

“Oh god.” Remus groaned before taking another hit.

“No, no,” Sirius said, waving their hand. “You, a punk, Remus? I don’t believe it. Not Remus  _ I have two modes and they’re climbing or Austen _ Lupin!”

Remus shrugged a shoulder, holding the joint out to Sirius.

“Ah! This album!” Hope held the black leather album up before making her way back over to the sofa. “He was such a punk.”

Sirius took another hit. “Oh now you go quiet. Okay, Hope, hit me with the evidence. I need to see this.”

Hope grinned as she opened the book and then set it on Sirius’ lap. “There’s your proof.”

Sirius honestly didn’t recognise Remus at first. The teenager in the photo album had blue hair and wore a leather jacket in every photo. His jeans looked held together by safety pins and were atop chunky Dr Marten’s boots too. “Holy fuck.” They looked up at Remus. Remus, wearing his jumper and a vaguely serene look on his face.  _ Remus, _ who owned  _ only _ jumpers and had never seen a drag show. But then there was the Remus who crowded them against his car and kissed them senseless or the Remus who went on political rants after two glasses of wine. It didn’t surprise Sirius that  _ that  _ Remus was a punk. “I mean… who am I even dating? I don’t know anymore.”

“Austen is totally punk.” Remus took the joint back.

Sirius grinned. “That’s the most  _ you _ thing I’ve ever heard.” They glanced back to the photo album. “How come I’ve never seen the jacket, though?”

“Ah! I have it. I kept it because he left it behind when he went off to uni,” Hope told them.

“You left it behind? Ah, uni was the time of the more grown-up punk. No safety pins.” Sirius grinned, pinching the joint back from Remus and taking a hit.

“Yes, in fact. I may not be outwardly punk, but it’s what inside that matters.” Remus laughed as Hope stood up.

“I’m going to find the jacket. I’ll be back in a minute.” She headed towards the stairs.

“Alright…” Sirius turned back to Remus. “So you’re a punk at heart?”

“Deep down under all the ice.” Remus took a sip of his wine.

Sirius grinned. “ _ All that ice _ , pft. I know you’re not icy. Not to me.”

“I know.” Remus licked his lips. “Are you doing okay? You were nervous earlier.”

“Doing good…” Sirius gestured to the stub of the joint in the ashtray on the coffee table. “That helps, I imagine.”

“Ha, yes.” Remus leaned forward and pressed a kiss to their lips.

“Mm, seeing you roll said joint did not help, though.” Sirius grinned, kissing him again.

“You and my bloody fingers.” Remus stood up and went for the cake.

Sirius tucked themselves into the sofa, watching Remus with a smile. “You like it.”

“Let’s not start on that in my  _ mother’s _ house.” Remus cut into the cake. “Want any?”

“Fine, fine. Yes please. Cake sounds good.” Sirius smiled, glancing around the room to try and take it all in. “Your mum is lovely.”

“Isn’t she? I’m glad you’re not overwhelmed by her.” He put a slice on a plate before handing it to Sirius with a fork.

“I shoved you in a room with James the first time you met him, he’s very overwhelming. This is fine, she’s lovely.” Sirius took the plate. “Thank you, caro. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I’ve the munchies and could eat this whole damn cake, but I have some restraint,” Remus said as he put a large piece of cake on to the plate he had used before.

Sirius sniggered, pressing a hand over their mouth. “Oh god. You’re bad with cake usually, nevermind when you’re high.” Sirius dug in to the cake themselves. “Oh this is good though. I bet you could eat it all.”

“I could.” Remus took a seat, already shoveling a forkful into his mouth. “Mmm.”

“Mmhm.” Sirius grinned, trying not to laugh but they couldn’t stop.

“So, is this high better than your oregano?” Remus asked after taking a sip of his wine.

Sirius snorted with laughter, unable to hold it back now, nodding. “Yeah. It doesn’t even compare. Had to be oregano, I swear.”

“Your giggling is fucking adorable, oh god.” Remus chuckled before taking another bite of the cake.

“I can’t help it, shut up.” Sirius jabbed at Remus’ arm with their fork, still laughing but trying to breathe through it and stop. “You’re adorable, you idiot.”

“I found it!” Hope voice came from the stairs.

Sirius shrieked. “Did you?” They threw the plate down on the coffee table and scrambled off the sofa and up the stairs. Nothing would keep them from seeing Remus’ teenage leather jacket.

“Here you go.” Hope stopped half way down the steps as Sirius came into view. The jacket looked the same from the photos. It was covered in political pins and safety pins with some studs on the shoulders.

“Oh shit,” Sirius murmured, stopping dead on the stairs. “That’s amazing.” Sirius stepped up a few steps and touched the sleeve. “I can’t believe he left it here.”

“Do you want it?” Hope held it out. “It just takes up space in the closet.”

“Seriously?” Sirius took the jacket, looking it over. “If Rem doesn’t want it…”

“You should ask him. I’m sure he doesn’t want it. You see how he dresses now.” Hope laughed.

“That’s very,  _ very _ true.” Sirius shrugged the jacket on and started down the stairs. “I’ll check with him.” Sirius hopped down the last few stairs, grinning ear to ear, and pushed open the door to the living room, leaning against the frame. “Mind if I have this?”

Remus looked up from his cake, which looked to be a new piece, and gaped open mouthed at Sirius in his old leather jacket atop their red silk shirt and skinny jeans. Sirius thought it was a pretty good look, actually. Even better with their heels but they’d kicked those off up in Remus’ bedroom and was barefoot now. 

“I think it’s a good look,” Sirius said smugly, walking over to Remus, putting their hands in the pockets. “Don’t you?”

“Yeah — yes. Ah, you can have it.” Remus nodded.

Grinning, Sirius sat down next to Remus, leaned over and plucked up a forkful of cake. “Thank you. It’s a shame for it to sit here.”

Hope came back into the living room yawning. “I think I’m going to head to bed soon. I wish we could stay up to chat more but I’m exhausted. You two must be too from the driving.”

“Yeah,” Sirius said, though they were still feeling a little giggly. “We can chat more tomorrow. I need to see the rest of the photo albums.”

“Yes, we have all tomorrow and Christmas day and the night of Boxing Day. There’ll be plenty of time to talk.” Hope kissed Remus on the cheek. “Good night, Remus, I’m so glad you’re here.”

“I wouldn’t miss Christmas with you for the world.” Remus smiled at her.

Hope then wrapped Sirius in a hug. “I’m so happy you’re here too, dear.”

Sirius hugged back, smiling. “I’m glad to be here, thank you for having me.”

“I’ll cook a nice breakfast tomorrow! We can figure out what we’re doing then.” Hope went for the doorway. “Goodnight!”

“Night, mam.” Remus said as she walked out the door and he set his plate down. “I’m knackered too.”

Sirius glanced at Remus, then the coffee table. “I’d think so with all that cake.”

“I could have finished it all.” He looked at the small amount left before covering it. “Come on, let’s go.”

Upstairs, they got ready for bed. Sirius used the bathroom first and got changed whilst Remus was in there. They had thrown Remus’ leather jacket over the back of the desk chair, but they bit their lip and shrugged it back on over their pyjamas. It probably wasn’t the best fashion decision over their fluffy it’s-deathly-cold pyjamas, but it was worth it for Remus’ face. Sirius sat at the head of the bed, flicking through their phone and letting James and Marlene know they had arrived.

Remus came into the room, wearing their flannel bottoms and old PureFit shirt. He closed the door behind him before even looking at Sirius. When he did, his mouth fell open again. “Christ, Sirius, really?”

Sirius grinned, setting their phone down and stretching their arms above their head. “Be thankful it’s too cold to wear just the jacket.”

“Yeah, really glad.” Remus murmured as he came to stand in front of Sirius. “I can’t shag you, this is my mam’s house.”

“Mm, I suppose.” Sirius shrugged a shoulder, patting the bed next to them. “Come give me a kiss, at least. Or are we all prim and proper at mam’s house?”

Remus snickered before sitting next to them on the bed. “I don’t mind snogging you a bit senseless, really.”

“Oh good, how very kind of you.” Sirius grinned, leaning over to Remus and kissing his cheek.

“Hmm, I’d love to do more than that but…” Remus brought Sirius in for a deep kiss.

Sirius kissed back, their hands going to Remus’ chest, nipping at his bottom lip as they shifted closer. “Mm, but it’s cold and late,” Sirius murmured, smiling against Remus’ mouth.

“Pity.” Remus sighed. “Let’s get under the covers before my toes freeze off though. I’ll kiss you some more there.”

Sirius pulled back just enough to put their legs under the covers before shrugging the jacket off and hanging it over the edge of the headboard. “No jacket, though. I’m not sleeping in it.” Sirius waited for Remus to get under before cuddling up to them. 

“Thank god, I was so worried I’d be stabbed with a safety pin in the middle of the night.” Remus rubbed their back.

“That’s just the risk you take as a punk, Remus.” Sirius nuzzled Remus’ neck. 

“True, true.” Remus hummed. “I’m so glad you came up here with me, love.”

“Me too. Thank you.”


	14. Chapter 14

The morning after arriving back to his childhood home, Remus rolled over to find the other side of the bed empty. He frowned, wondering where on earth Sirius had gone. He assumed they would have waited for Remus to get up before venturing out into the home because they didn’t really know it well. Unless they went to the bathroom, but Remus patted the other side of the bed and it was cold.

With a groan, Remus pushed himself out of bed as he thought over the night before. He was a bit worried about introducing Sirius to his mam like this. As much as he loved her, she could be somewhat jarring. From what Remus gathered, she was nothing like Sirius’ adoptive or biological mother. Sirius was more than surprised when his mam asked Remus to roll a joint as they looked over the photo albums. They assured Remus they loved her though, which was the best thing that could happen.

Even with the embarrassing pictures, and the bit of nervousness, the night had gone well. Sirius and his mam got on just fine. Sirius died when he found out about Remus’ punk phase, and then Remus nearly died when they came into the living room wearing his old leather jacket… then again when he walked into the bedroom later to find them with it on once more. If they were at home, Remus would have done far more than kissing he was sure. Yet again, his body had to get interested at all the wrong times.

After using the bathroom, Remus made his way downstairs towards the kitchen. He could smell his mother’s breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes as he got halfway down the staircase. Remus was so happy to be home, and it was amazing to be home with Sirius. It just felt  _ right _ , it was as if Sirius was meant to be there in his childhood home with his mam. He was already hoping they could do it again next year and they hadn’t even been there for 24 hours.

Remus got near the kitchen door then stopped as he heard his mother talk.

“So, he doesn’t want you to move in?” She asked.

“I don’t know, he’s just being typically Remus about it, all logic and reason and  _ it’s only been four months _ . I get it, I suppose,” Sirius replied.

Remus bit his lip, leaning against the wall as he listened.

“Of course he is. I don’t understand it because it’s always  _ Sirius is staying over _ or  _ Sirius stayed over _ or  _ I’m over Sirius’ _ . He’s just so logical sometimes, he needs to go with how he feels.”

“Right? Listen to his heart sometimes.” Sirius sighed softly. “I’ll convince him eventually. Even if it’s just to save on our bills.”

His mam chuckled. “Oh, dear, that will get him, won’t it?”

Remus rolled his eyes.

“Yep. It better do, anyway.” There was a little pause. “I’m pre-coffee so this is disgusting but I really do love him.”

“I can tell. He loves you too. I didn’t know he could even look at someone like that. The coffee’s done now though.”

“Thank god.” There was the sound of shuffling about for a moment. “I’ll make him one too, else he’ll be real grumpy.”

“So grumpy. He’ll probably sleep for five more hours.” She laughed.

Remus knew he should go into the kitchen but he was so damn nosey about what Sirius and his mam were saying. It also was nice to hear them chatting like they’d known one another for longer than a few hours.

“You need to make an honest man out of him someday soon. God knows it won’t be yet because it’s only been five months,” his mam said.

Remus’ eyes went wide because it was far too early for any talk about marriage. It would be a lie to say that Remus hadn’t thought about it, but he was so far from asking at the moment.

“It’s something we’d have to talk about, the two of us. Would be nice though, wouldn’t it?”

“It would be. Lyall and I, we got married after only dating for a few months. He was like Remus in that way, pragmatic, but he was more likely to follow his heart than our son.”

Remus frowned, wishing that his dad was around now. He had only been 18 when his dad passed away from cancer. It was hard for him, and for his mam. His dad was on his mind whenever something big happened, and he so wished that he could have met Sirius.

“Yeah… Remus always jokes he’s all cold exterior and an icy heart, but he’s not. Not to me.” Sirius sounded a little thoughtful.

“No, he’s not at all. I give him a hard time, but I know he’s just putting on a bit of a front.”

Remus smiled because he didn’t ever want either his mam or Sirius to think he was actually a bastard. He didn’t care much what anyone else thought, and honestly he’d like to have most people at arm's length.

“I don’t mind it. Means I get the nice bits of him all to myself.”

Remus couldn’t wipe the smile off his face, but he cleared his throat and walked towards the kitchen. He really needed to stop listening in. “Good morning,” he said before even entering the room.

“Ah, look who decided to join us.” His mam was at the stove seeing to some pancakes.

“Yeah, yeah, funny.” Remus scoffed then went to give her a hug. “Good morning, mam.”

“Morning, dear. Poor Sirius must spend so much time on their own when you stay at each other’s places with you sleeping so much.” She shook her head as Remus went over to Sirius, who was leaning a hip against the counter near the sink.

Sirius grinned, setting their coffee cup down. “I’m extra productive in the mornings before sleeping beauty wakes up. Morning Rem.”

Remus rolled his eyes again before giving Sirius a peck on the lips. “Morning. How long have you both been awake?”

“Only a half hour, I think?” Sirius eased past him. “Coffee?”

“Please.” Remus watched Sirius move about the kitchen he had grew up in as if they belonged there. “Smells good, mam.”

“I know you love breakfast.” She smiled. “What do you want to do today, Sirius? You’re the guest.”

Sirius passed Remus a coffee mug, looking to him and then back to Hope. “Er… I have no idea? Show me the sights! It’s Christmas Eve, is there something festive we can do?”

“There’s a Christmas market in Cardiff. It’s nice, I haven’t been this year,” his mam suggested as Remus reached for a piece of bacon. “It’s not time to eat yet, Remus.”

Remus sighed. “A market might be nice. We have to watch a movie later, obviously.”

Sirius brightened. “Oh! Can it be the Muppets Christmas Carol?”

“You really want to bring  _ that up _ ?” Remus laughed, thinking back to the night they had met.

Sirius waved a hand. “No, no, that was crap but the  _ movie  _ is great! We were awful that night, I thought we’d decided to never speak of it again.”

“I’d love to hear all about it.” His mam put the last pancake on a plate. “Why don’t you bring this to the table so we can eat? And yes, the movie sounds good, Sirius.”

“It was terrible, I don’t want to even remember it. But yeah, the movie is fine.” Remus grabbed the plate of bacon and the plate of pancakes.

“The movie is the best Christmas movie apart from Die Hard, Remus.” Sirius grabbed the coffees and the last plate. “Basically, Hope,” they said, like they and his mam had known each other for years, “we were both idiots the first night we met and thought the other didn’t like us for various reasons. It ended awfully and we were both so awkward.”

Remus watched the interaction between his partner and his mam then shook his head before going to the table. “We were very stupid when we didn’t need to be.”

“That happens, it’s a good thing you got it together.” She smiled.

“Really, I suppose I have Marly to thank. She made me text you that Saturday, you know,” Sirius said, a little horrified at the realisation as they set things down on the table.

“Oh god, we can never tell her that it’s thanks to her we’re together. She’ll never let it go.” Remus shook his head, sitting down at the table once he put his plates down.

“She’ll want some kind of commendation, I think. More than she already does.” Sirius sat down, putting their hand on Remus’ knee for a moment. They looked a lot more at ease than they did the night before.

“I’ll have to send Marlene a thank you card, hmm?” His mam came out with plates and utensils.

“NO!” Remus and Sirius shouted at the same time.

“Mam, you can’t, you don’t understand.” He took a plate from her.

“It’ll go  _ right _ to her head, Hope, don’t do it.” Sirius appeared to be piling pancakes on their plate to try and make themselves feel better about Marlene finding herself responsible for their relationship.

“She’ll never shut up about it. If you ever see her again, you can’t bring it up.” Remus grabbed some bacon.

“All right, all right.” She shook her head. “I’ll keep it to myself.”

They ate and chatted happily, as if Sirius had been visiting them for ages. Remus loved the comfort of being home, and it was even better now that Sirius was there with them. When they finished their food and coffee, Sirius went upstairs to shower and get ready to go to the market in the city. Remus helped his mam clear the table and went to give her a hand with the washing up.

“How’s the shop doing?” Remus asked her as he scraped the leftovers into the trash.

Hope smiled. “Good! Donna is managing today, seeing as her kids don’t come home until the 27th, that’s why I’ve got Boxing Day. And we just hired a new girl from down in the village.” She paused and glanced at Remus over her shoulder. “But how are you?”

“I’m fine.” Remus nodded as he went to help his mam at the sink. “Why are you asking like that?”

“Oh, I don’t know,” Hope said lightly. “Might be that you’ve bought your partner back to meet me for the first time  _ ever _ and I’m excited and want to hear all the gossip in person.”

“There’s no gossip. You’ve met them and talked to them.” Remus laughed.

His mam peered at him. “You’re happy, aren’t you?”

Remus couldn’t help the grin on his face. “Ah, more than I think.”

“Good. You both look very happy.”

“They’re great, aren’t they?”

“They are.” Hope put a plate on the drying rack. “So when are you going to move in and/or pop the question?” She was smiling in a way that made Remus unsure if she was actually joking or not.

“Mam!” Remus looked away and scoffed.

She nudged him in the side. “That’s not a no, Remus John.”

“I — look, I do want to move in with them, but it is too soon, no matter what you’re going to say. Well, it really was when we first brought it up.” Remus frowned a little.

“And how long ago was that?”

“At the beginning of November.” Remus looked down at his nails.

“I see.” Hope started washing up again. “And how many nights have you spent apart since then?”

Remus flushed because it had been far more than half the time they were together. Even more than like 75% of the time probably. Thinking about it, it was probably around five times. “Not… a few times. But… moving in is different.”

“Oh? Sounds like you live together already, or as good as.”

“But Sirius wouldn’t have a place to go if they moved to my flat if something happened.” Remus tried to reason.

“Do you think something will happen?” Hope put another plate on the drying rack. “Dry up for me, will you dear.”

“Well, no, I — I don’t know.” Remus took the plate and the towel. “It could though. We barely know one another, right?”

“I wouldn’t say that. I think you know quite a lot about each other.”

Remus set the plate down. “I barely know about their biological family. They never want to talk about it. They were there until they were 16 until they moved in with the Potters. I feel like I should know about it.”

Hope hummed in thought. “Do they talk about the Potters more?”

“They talk about the Potters all the time. I’m going to meet them on New Years Eve.”

“Who do you think are their parents more, then? The people they don’t talk about, or the people they don’t shut up about?”

“I hate when you’re so logical!” Remus took another plate. “We said we’d talk about moving in again after the new year.”

Hope laughed as she washed up the last pan. “You only hate when I’m logical because you’re just the same, except for when it comes to yourself.” She leaned her hip against the counter. “After the new year sounds like a good idea.”

“Yeah… well… It’s going to happen anyway.” Remus muttered. “We’ll move in together. The marriage thing, that’s not on the table yet.”

“Well,” his mam said, patting his arm. “We can deal with that  _ after _ you move in together.”  
  
Remus shook his head. “ _ That’s _ going to be a while.”


	15. Chapter 15

Sirius woke up early most mornings, and Christmas morning was no exception. They were having such a wonderful time visiting Hope and they got on together so well. They had spent Christmas Eve wandering around a local festive market, drinking hot chocolate and taking in the sights. They watched Die Hard that evening and sat around together, chatting and drinking mulled wine.

Today, apparently, would be much more of the same. Usually, Hope and Remus opened presents after breakfast, got lunch started, then watched films and sat around, and more than likely got stoned, which was entirely fine by Sirius.

Remus was still fast asleep on his back, one arm over his face, as Sirius slipped out of bed and pulled on his PureFit hoodie. They made their way downstairs via the bathroom and found Hope already at the kitchen table, sipping coffee.

“Morning Hope.” They crossed over and kissed her cheek. “Happy Christmas!”

“Happy Christmas, dear. Is the sleepyhead still out cold?”

“Of course, of course.” Sirius grinned, sitting opposite her. “I might wake him up with coffee in a while. Will he be grumpy he’s missed out on Christmas?”

“He’d be very grumpy.” Hope held her mug between her hands. “What’d you get him for Christmas?”

Sirius puffed out their cheeks. “A few little things. We joked that I would buy him chocolate for every holiday, so there’s like, three chocolate boxes—” one was heart shaped but Hope didn’t need to know the story behind that— “and a new chalk bag because his old one is falling apart… and a mug with a carabiner for a handle; it says  _ go climb a rock _ on it.” Sirius poured their own coffee, biting their lip. “You think that’s alright?”

“He’ll love them all!” Hope said happily.

“You think? Oh! And I found Alex Honnold’s book on sale… apparently he’s a big climbing guy?”

“I’ve heard the name. I don’t know much about him but Remus has mentioned him in the past.” Hope nodded. “I’m sure my son will love anything you get him.”

“I hope so.” Sirius poured Remus a coffee. “Do you want a hand with anything for food before I go wake Remus up?”

“No, dear, go on and wake him up.”

“Okay. See you in a minute.” Sirius eased past her chair with a hand on her shoulder before heading back up the stairs with both mugs of coffee. Waking Remus was never something they enjoyed but it was Christmas, and he would probably be annoyed if Sirius let him sleep any later. They pushed open the bedroom door and padded around to sit on the edge of the bed, trying to tell if Remus was awake.

Ah, that was a no. Sirius set the coffee down on the side and put a gentle hand on his arm. “Caro?”

Remus made a little noise then rolled over onto his side. “Mmm?”

Sirius bit their lip to stifle a chuckle, wafting the coffee smell over towards him with their free hand. “Happy Christmas, my love,” they murmured, leaning over and pressing a kiss to his cheek.

Remus cracked an eye open. “Did my mother send you?”

“No!” Sirius said softly, grinning. “I came by myself thank you very much. Thought you’d be grumpy if I didn’t wake you up… although your mum did agree.”

“You two are now teaming up against me!” Remus slowly sat up.

“That’s what early mornings do to you, Rem. It’s solidarity.” Sirius smiled, brushing Remus’ hair back from his face a little. He was so gorgeous just waking like this.

“Well, when me and every other person who likes to sleep wake up, we’ll rise up against you.” Remus took his coffee.

“When you’re not sleeping, of course.” God, if Sirius could see themselves right now they’d probably scream, they were so bloody lovestruck.

“Mornings are overrated.” He took a sip of his coffee. “But I’m awake, so I guess we should head downstairs.”

“Mm, give me a Christmas kiss good morning first,” Sirius said, grinning as they leaned forwards.

Remus put his free hand on Sirius’ cheek and pressed his lips to theirs. “Happy Christmas,” he said after pulling away.

“Happy Christmas, caro.” Sirius squeezed Remus’ knee before sitting back. “Come on then, downstairs, coffee and toast and presents.”

“Okay, okay.” Remus pushed himself out of bed. “Let’s go.”

“Do I need to hang around and make sure you don’t get back into bed?” 

“No, you brat.” Remus glared at them then smiled.

Sirius blew them a kiss. “Please, it’s princess, if you must.” They stood up and padded out of the room, pausing in the doorway to grin at Remus.

“Okay, princess. I’ll be down in a minute.”

“Thank you!” Sirius called, starting back down the stairs, grinning to themselves.

“Yeah, yeah.” Remus laughed from the room. “Love you!”

“You too!” Sirius called back as they walked into the hallway, spotting Hope smiling in the living room. They bit their lip. “We’re so used to talking to each other all around the flat, it’s weird to shout upstairs.”

“It’s sweet.” Hope was still smiling.

Sirius put their finger to their lips. “Shh, you can’t tell anyone we’re actually kind of adorable  _ sometimes. _ ” They came into the room and sat on the arm of the sofa. “He’s just getting up.”

“You’ve been here for over a day, it seems like you’re adorable far more often than you’re not.” Hope chuckled. “Is he really up? He used to tell me he was up all the time for school and crawl back into bed.”

“I said that!” Sirius laughed, grinning at how well they and Hope got along. “I said do you need me to make sure you don’t get back into bed. He  _ said _ no.”

“Ah, well, I don’t trust him. He’s done this before.”

“Jesus,” Remus said coming into the room. “Really? You two really are ganging up on me. Dear god.”

Sirius faked nearly falling out of their seat in surprise, laughing. “Oh my  _ god _ he’s up.”

“All right,  _ princess _ , comedy hour is up. It’s presents time.” Remus sat on the sofa.

Sirius tucked their feet under Remus’ thigh like they always did, sitting on the arm of the sofa nearest him. “Okay. Who first?”

“It’s always youngest to oldest, so my gifts please.” Remus laughed, patting Sirius’ leg.

“Aww, the young one!” Sirius slipped off the sofa to retrieve Remus’ presents from beneath the tree, wrapped in the gaudiest paper Sirius could find. “Okay, here you go.”

“You got me so many.” Remus said as he opened the first gift, it was the mug. “I love this. I’ll drink from it every morning.”

Remus opened all his gifts, commenting on how he loved every single one. His cheeks got bright red when he opened the heart shaped box of chocolate though. It was fairly hilarious. Remus then opened a maroon jumper from Hope, which looked incredibly soft, and something Sirius would be stealing in the future. She also gave him a tupperware of brownies. “Sirius, be careful eating these.” Remus laughed as he set them down with the rest of his gifts.

“Why do I feel like they’re Hope-Special brownies?” Sirius said, grinning. They were so pleased Remus liked his gifts, and especially pleased with how much he’d flushed with the heart-shaped chocolates.

“Yeah, they’re the best weed brownies you can get.” Remus stood up. “Okay, love, you’re up.”

Sirius slipped into Remus’ seat on the sofa, sitting cross-legged and holding their ankles. “Yay, me next!”

Remus chuckled as he gathered the gifts.

“Don’t forget that one there, dear,” Hope said, pointing to a silver-wrapped parcel.

“Got it!” Remus grabbed it then managed to get over to the sofa without dropping any. “Here you go. Don’t take all day opening them.”

Sirius bit their lip, not quite knowing where to start. They went for Hope’s first, peeling back the paper, before Remus’ words sank in. “Oi, I’ll savour this as much as I like, thank you!”

Hope’s present was a care package of sorts, with aromatherapy bath salts and oils and CBD creams and lotions, apparently designed to help with aches and pains. It was  _ very _ Hope. Sirius thanked her profusely and unwrapped Remus’ gifts. The first was a bag with the slogan ‘I’d Rather Be Pole Dancing’ which Sirius laughed at for far too long. The second was a t-shirt that had ‘genderfuckyou’ written across the front.

“Ah! Rem! This is perfect, oh my god!” Sirius managed through laughing, turning the shirt around to show Hope also.

“I knew you’d love it!”

Sirius grinned, feeling a bit giddy, as they opened Remus’ last package, which looked like a card of some kind. When they tipped it open, though, two tickets fell out. It took Sirius a moment to read the title. “KP tickets… what? How did you get these? I thought she was sold out!”

“She was sold out, but I waited online the moment they went on sale.” Remus smiled back at them.

“Ah… I’m— oh my god, Remus, thank you! Do we really get to go and see her?” Sirius was looking between Remus and the tickets in disbelief. “A new chalk bag seems like a bit of a shitty gift now…”

“No, my gifts are so wonderful, I love them. Plus, there’s two tickets so it’s partly my own gift as well.”

“Okay, that’s true.” Sirius was still holding onto the tickets, but leaned forward to kiss Remus’ cheek. “Thank you, caro.”

Remus grinned. “I think it’s mam’s turn now.”

“Yeah!” Sirius smiled, retrieving the remaining presents from under the tree and holding them out to Hope. Sirius had brought her a gorgeous patterned pashmina; they were half-tempted to go back to the store and buy another for themselves.

“I can’t wait to see what I’ve got. Remus said you’re a wonderful gift giver, Sirius.” Hope took the offered gifts.

Sirius shrugged, holding Remus’ hand when they sat back down. “He’s lying entirely, Hope. I’m awful. I just pretend I stumble upon the nice gifts on purpose.”

“I find that doubtful.” Hope opened the box with the pashmina in it. When she took the lid off and pushed away the tissue paper the grinned. “Oh! Sirius, I love this.”

“I’m glad. I saw it and thought you’d like it.”

Hope hugged Sirius tight after setting the box aside. “I love it. Thank you, dear..”

“You’re very welcome,” Sirius said, hugging back. They were so pleased Hope liked their gift. They loved it here.

“Okay, let’s see what my son got me.” She went back to the other gift. “It feels like a book,” She said then unwrapped the paper.

Remus laughed, watching his mother examine the book. Hope laughed before turning it around to show Sirius the front cover, after they glanced over curiously. The front cover said  _ Get Baked _ , with photographs of various baked goods that were probably fairly psychoactive. Sirius grinned, shaking their head. The book seemed  _ very _ Hope.

“You should try making something from it.” Remus suggested as he took a sip of his coffee.

“You just want more sweet things to eat, Rem.” Sirius nudged him in the side. “Break open your chocolate box.”

“Yeah, but those don’t have THC in them.” Remus chuckled, pressing a kiss to Sirius’ cheek.

Sirius rolled their eyes, leaning into Remus. “I’m learning more and more about you, Mr. Lupin.”

“I told you before, I’m full of surprises.” Remus reached for one of the boxes of chocolates as Hope stood up. “Need any help, mam?”

“Yeah, we can come… peel veg or something, I don’t know,” Sirius said, looking to Hope.

“No, I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “Why don’t you two just relax?”

Sirius glanced to Remus, then to Hope again. “Okay, sure?”

“Yes, more than, dear.” She grinned before going to the kitchen.

Remus leaned closer to Sirius and said softly, “She hates people in the kitchen with her. She thinks we’ll mess it up.”

“Ah, right,” Sirius murmured back, smiling. “I see. Okay, okay, we can keep out of the way.”

“How about you put a movie on?” Remus went to collecting the gifts. “I’ll get these out of the way for now.”

“Sure! Any requests for the movie?” Sirius leaned over to grab the remote, turning the television on before watching Remus potter around.

“Whatever you’re feeling is fine.” He set the gifts he had in his hand under the tree.

Sirius nodded, flicking through the movies on the television before picking  _ Love, Actually _ . It was a Christmas classic and they were sure Remus actually loved it, because it was ridiculously sappy, just like him. Sirius had to admit they were quite fond of the film too.

After putting the gifts aside, Remus came back over to the sofa and snuggled up next to Sirius. “Yes, I love this movie!”

Sirius burst out laughing. “I knew you would! You total sap.”

“I’m just really living up to the sap, aren’t I? You love it too, don’t you?” Remus tickled Sirius’ side.

“No!” Sirius shrieked, shoving at Remus’ hands. “No, piss off you bastard. I was going to say—” Sirius was laughing too much to talk— “I quite liked the movie but no, stop!”

Remus kissed their neck. “Okay, okay. I love tickling you. Your giggling is so bloody cute.”

“Mm,” Sirius murmured, looping their arms around his shoulders. “That’s better. I don’t like the tickling, even if you’re sappy and adorable about it.”

“Okay.” Remus pressed another kiss to their neck. “Are you having a nice Christmas?”

“I am. Your mum is so lovely.” Sirius shifted a bit to cuddle closer and tip their chin up a little. “Are you?”

“Best Christmas, ever.” Remus put his arm around their waist.

They settled down to watch the film together, drinking their coffee. Remus ate a few of his chocolates, because if there was a time for chocolates for breakfast, it was Christmas. Sirius was so content, cuddled up with Remus, pleased he had liked their gifts, and also ridiculously excited that they were going to see King Princess soon. 

Just as Hugh Grant was making an idiot of himself, Hope called through from the kitchen. “Remus! Roll us a joint, will you dear? Christmas dinner is fucking stressful and I forget every damn year until I’m fucking battling with it!”

“I know she’s stressed when she’s dropping the f-bomb,” Remus muttered then said louder, “Sure mam!”

Sirius grinned, sitting up to let Remus get up. “I love your mum, honestly.”

“I know.” Remus reached for the tin of weed and papers that had been left on the side table. “Want to roll it?”

“I don’t know how?” Sirius bit their lip, watching Remus. “Jamie always did ours. I don’t think I had the patience.”

“I can show you how.” Remus grabbed the  _ Get Baked _ book he had left on the table to skim through and set it on Sirius’ lap.

“Okay, okay.” Sirius sat up a little straighter, fascinated by this new side to Remus.

“We need a paper.” Remus set that on the book. “And the filter.” He reached to the side table again for one.

“Right,” Sirius said, nodding. They set the filter at one end of the paper.

“Now the weed.” He opened the tin and held it out to Sirius.

“This bit is fine, it’s the rolling it and getting the paper to tuck under and making it all neat. Mine always fell apart.” Sirius dropped little pinches of the weed all along the paper, glancing up at Remus, loving the look on his face.

“I’ll show you, don’t worry.” Remus pressed a kiss to their neck again.

“Mm stop doing that or it’ll definitely go wrong.” Sirius grinned, but they wouldn’t actively  _ stop _ Remus from kissing their neck in the slightest. “Besides,” they murmured. “I’d much rather just watch you roll.”

“Everyone should know how to roll.” Remus laughed, setting aside the tin. “I’ll help. Now take the paper between your thumbs and index fingers.” Remus took their wrists.

Sirius licked their suddenly-dry lips and did as Remus said, glancing to him again. “Okay…”

“Focus on the joint, not my hands.” Remus chuckled. “Now, roll it up and down, go slow and make it tight.”

Sirius rolled their eyes. “Not actually possible, Remus. Don’t you know anything about me?” They shot him a grin but followed his instructions, rolling the paper back and forth. 

“Tame yourself, we’re in my  _ mother’s house _ .” Remus laughed. “Good, good. Look, you did it, now lick it to seal it.”

“Really, is that it?” Sirius paused, smiling. “Clearly, you’re magic.” They licked along the edge of the paper and pressed it down, feeling rather pleased with themselves. They would’ve still rather watched  _ Remus _ do it, but still, it was good for their first try in years.

“Yeah, that’s it. Just pack the end with this.” Remus handed them a pen.

“Okay.” Sirius did so before handing the pen back to Remus. “Next time, it’s your turn though.”

“I’ve rolled every joint since we got here.” He laughed.

“Because you’re very good at it, clearly,” Sirius shot back, holding the joint out to him.

Remus handed Sirius the lighter. “Here, you can have the first hit, it’s your achievement.”

“Is that like dealer’s choice in card games?” Sirius lit up and took the first hit. “See,” they murmured, exhaling. “Not as good as yours.”

“It’s the same weed.” Remus snickered, taking the joint from them. “Come on, let’s go see mam.”

Sirius caught his free hand and pressed a kiss to his knuckles, catching him before he stood up. “Hey. I love you.”

“I love you too.” He grinned. “So bloody much.”


	16. Chapter 16

Remus woke up Boxing Day morning to find Sirius sipping their coffee next to him in bed, scrolling through their phone. They smiled over at him and Remus sighed because he had just had the most wonderful dream about Sirius. They were back home in Remus’ flat shagging on the sofa. It was  _ wonderful _ . His stupid body.

“Morning, love,” Remus managed as he attempted to shake the thoughts of Sirius under him from his brain.

Sirius set their phone on the side, stretching their now-free arm above their head. “Morning, caro. Sleep okay?”

“Mmm, so good.” Remus grabbed their hand. “Come give me a kiss.” 

Sirius’ eyebrows raised a little, but they let Remus tug them down next to him and leaned in to kiss him on the mouth. 

“Hmm, love you.” Remus sighed again before deepening the kiss, his hand sliding up the back of Sirius’ shirt.

Remus heard the clink of Sirius setting their coffee mug down before they pressed closer, shifting a little further down the bed as they nipped at Remus’ bottom lip. His tongue brushed against’ Sirius’ lip before sliding in with a hum. Both of his hands were now under Sirius’ shirt, touching their warm, soft skin.

“Mm,” Sirius whispered between kisses, their hands going to Remus’ upper arms, then trailing over his chest. “This is a good morning. Hi.”

Remus responded with more kisses as he pulled Sirius closer, pressing their hips together. Sirius made a soft noise in response, one hand sliding down to Remus’ hip, then around to his arse to press closer, fingers digging in a little. He made a noise in the back of his throat, tangling their legs together.

After a moment, Remus pulled at Sirius’ shirt to get it off. Sirius sat up a little to give themselves enough room to pull it up over their head and toss it somewhere unimportant. They were breathing a little hard and ran a hand through their hair to push it away from their face. Remus brought them back for more kisses because he just couldn’t get enough. He wanted to devor Sirius.

Why on earth was his body doing this to him right now. “What are we doing, shit?”

Sirius hummed softly, trailing their mouth down Remus’ jaw. “Having a good morning.”

“We’re at my mother’s house.” Remus groaned, rolling away.

“Remus…” Sirius flopped back onto the bed. “She’s out at work,  _ all day. _ ”

Remus put his hands over his face. “I’ve wanted you since we left for bloody Wales. Jesus.”

Remus felt the bed dip a little and heard Sirius sigh. “You  _ so _ can’t just say that,” they murmured a moment before they straddled Remus’ thighs, their hands on his chest.

“It’s true.” He opened his eyes to find Sirius still shirtless but wearing his old leather jacket. “Are you fucking kidding me?”

Sirius bit their lip, shrugging a shoulder. “If you’re not gonna keep me warm then I need another way, don’t I? And I like this jacket.”

“Oh, shut up, you saw how turned on I was of you in the jacket the other night.” Remus laughed, attempting to sound annoyed but he was far from it.

“Did I?” Sirius smiled. “I have no clue what you’re talking about, caro.”

“You’re a brat, princess.” Remus reached out and tugged at the zipper of the jacket.

“You love it,” Sirius said, trailing their hands over Remus’ chest.

“I do, so bloody much.” Remus arched up into the touch.

Sirius ran their fingers down to the waistband of Remus’ pyjama bottoms. “C’mon then, caro…”

“Sirius, it’s my mother’s house! I’ve never… I wouldn’t…”

“Mm, okay, fine.” Sirius climbed off Remus and slipped off the bed. “Whatever you say, caro.”

Remus breathed a sigh of relief as he pushed himself to sit up again. “Yeah.”

Sirius grinned, stepping back a little before stretching their arms above their head, before folding over to touch their toes. He let out a long breath through his nose as he watched Sirius stretch. They knew exactly what they were doing to him. “So, ah, what… what do you want to do?”

“Mm, I don’t mind. We can just hang around all day, if you like?” Sirius twisted this way and that, straightening up and pressing their hands up over their head again.

“Yeah, yep. Maybe we can have brownie for breakfast.” Maybe it would help him calm the fuck down.  _ Christ _ . Sirius stretching when he was feeling like this was so not good. Well, it was good, it was amazing.

“Brownies for breakfast sounds good,” Sirius said as they lifted one leg so it was straight up over their head. They smiled a little, almost the picture of innocence if Remus didn’t know, before shutting their eyes, making a soft noise at the stretch.

“Yeah, ah, you can’t — you ever have one before?” Remus licked his lips, watching them carefully.

Sirius shook their head, eyes still closed as they let that leg drop and lifted the other, holding onto their foot. “I don’t think so. Oh, we went to Amsterdam for a weekend, so then, I think… Won’t be nothing on the ones downstairs, I bet...” Sirius trailed off with another noise of satisfaction.

“No, probably not.” He slid his hand under the blanket and pressed a hand to his ever-growing erection. Fuck fuck fuck.

“You okay, Rem?” Sirius cracked an eye open, settling back with, thankfully, both feet on the floor.

“Fine.” Remus cleared his throat.

“Sure.” Sirius’ eyes raked over him for a moment before they pushed a few things out of the way with their foot to clear a space. “You don’t mind me stretching, do you? Then we can go get breakfast brownies.”

“Yeah, sounds good, perfect.” Remus moved to the edge of the bed, keeping the blanket over his lap.

“Okay, good. Just checking,” Sirius said lightly as they turned to the side and slid their feet apart to sink down into the splits, toes still pointed. They always made it look far too easy.

“Jesus fuck.” Remus stood up. “You’re such a fucking brat.”

Sirius glanced over their shoulder, pushing their hair back out of the way. “What? I’m just stretching.” They bit their lip, looking him over. “You’re the one with the problem, my love.”

Remus leaned down and all but hauled Sirius up off the floor. “Brat.”

“Yeah?” Sirius breathed, grinning as they scrambled up, hand going to Remus’ shoulder.

“Stretching in my bloody jacket and pretending you don’t know what it’s doing to me.” Remus pinned them back against the wall opposite the bed.

“Want me to take the jacket off?” Sirius shot back, grinning ear to ear and sounding a little breathless already. They let Remus crowd them back against the wall, hands reaching for the lapels of the jacket.

“No, I want you to take your bottoms off then fuck you against the wall.” He pressed up against them, chest to thighs.

Sirius swore softly, arching their back a little to press closer. “Yeah?” One hand trailed down to the waistband of Remus’ bottoms.

“Yes, I would fuck you right here but I don’t have any lube.” Remus pressed his lips to the underside of Sirius’ jaw.

Sirius’ breath hitched as they tilted their head back, brushing their fingers over Remus’ erection. “There’s some in my bag.”

He moaned at the touch, closing his eyes for a moment. “Get it.” Remus stepped back a little reluctantly.

“ _ Please _ ,” Sirius said playfully, going to move past Remus towards their things.

“Please,  _ princess _ .” Remus watched them move carefully.

“Mm, that’s better.” Sirius shot him a grin, bending over to go into their case and rifle through their bag.

“Suddenly we’re all manners.” Remus scoffed as he appreciated Sirius’ arse.

“I’m always manners, Rem. You’re the one who wants to fuck me into the wall.” Sirius straightened up, lube in hand. They held it out to him, smirking, as they said, “I’m being  _ very _ obliging.”

“Brat,” Remus murmured as they moved back to him. He took the lube. “Take your bottoms off.”

Sirius rolled their eyes but tugged at the waistband of their pyjamas, pushing them off their hips and wiggling a little so they fell to the floor. 

“You’re so bloody sexy.” Remus took them in, beautifully naked with the exception of the jacket. “Get back over here.”

Still bloody smirking, Sirius padded back over to him, looping their arms around his shoulders. “Where do you want me, caro?”

Remus back them against the wall again, smiling before pressing his lips to theirs for a moment. “Turn around and spread your legs.”

Sirius visibly shivered, kissing back before turning around. They glanced over their shoulder at Remus, stepping their feet apart and tilting their hips back towards him. Sirius knew  _ exactly _ what they did to him. Remus gave a little tap to their arse then ran a finger over their entrance. He grinned as Sirius let out a little noise before removing his hand to push his own bottoms down. He then opened the lube. “You’re so perfect.”

Sirius shifted a little, one hand going to the dresser to the side of them whilst the other stayed braced against the wall. “Mm, I love your voice.”

“I know.” Remus grinned as he tossed the lube onto the dresser before carefully easing one finger into Sirius. “You said you’d get off to it one day, we’ll have to try that.”

“Yeah.” Sirius voice sounded a little breathy as they spoke, before they moaned softly. “Not today.”

“No, today you’ll get off on my cock in you.” He slowly moved his finger almost out of Sirius before pressing back in.

“Oh,  _ fuck _ .” Sirius shuddered, their hips canting back towards Remus. “I can’t fucking wait already.”

Remus added another finger. “You’re not ready yet.” Remus chuckled.

“Hurry up, then,” Sirius said breathlessly, stepping their legs further apart.

His hand twisted a little as he brought the fingers nearly all the way out. “You’re so impatient,” Remus teased them.

Sirius made a sharp keening noise. “You love it. You like that I’m always gagging for you.”

“Yes, I love it. I told you, I wanted you anywhere whenever I felt like this.” Remus pressed a kiss to their back and he slid another finger in.

“Yeah, oh god. Fuck, Remus. I want you inside me already.” Sirius was breathing fast and Remus could see a flush on the back of their neck above the collar of the jacket.

Remus carefully pulled his fingers out, running a hand up their back under the jacket. “Absolutely. Turn around.”

Sirius complied instantly, leaning back against the wall a little. Their grey eyes were wide, staring at Remus as they reached for him. Remus’ hands went to the backs of Sirius’ thighs, urging them to wrap their legs around his waist. Sirius ducked their head to kiss Remus hard, wrapping both their long legs around his waist, their arms around his shoulders.

Remus pressed them back against the wall, kissing Sirius back as his hands held onto their thighs.

“Fuck,” Sirius murmured into their kiss, dropping one hand from Remus’ shoulders to brace against the wall. They leaned back before bringing one leg up, pushing Remus’ hand away a little so they could hook their leg up onto his shoulder. Remus moaned at the way Sirius was able to move before taking himself into his hand and pressing into Sirius.

“Oh, god.” Remus paused for a moment, leaning his head against Sirius’ chest for a moment. Sirius felt so  _ good _ and  _ hot  _ and  _ tight _ .

Sirius dropped their head back against the wall, moaning softly. Their leg around his waist tightened a little, one hand going up through Remus’ hair. “Shit, you feel so good,” they murmured, hips shifting restlessly.

“You too, shit. Fuck.” Remus closed his eyes, taking one more deep breath. He lifted his head and opened his eyes once he felt somewhat collected. Without wasting anymore time he started to live up to the promise of fucking Sirius into the wall, moving his hips as quickly as he could.

Sirius’ fingers dug into Remus’ shoulders as they met him for every thrust, head still tilted back against the wall. They were making the most beautiful sounds Remus had ever heard. Remus didn’t want to stop this because they felt  _ so _ good and the sounds were  _ so _ perfect.

“Fuck, you’re so good, Sirius.” He held them tight as he continued to fuck Sirius, turning his head to kiss Sirius’ knee. Another sharp noise came from the back of Sirius’ throat, their eyes closed, biting their bottom lip so hard it had turned bright red. Their hand from Remus’ hair trailed down his shoulder and chest, going to wrap around their own cock. Remus grabbed their hand before they could even touch themselves. “No, like this. You’re going to come just like this.”

“Fucking hell,” Sirius moaned, panting a little. They licked their lips a few times before opening their eyes a little and smiling in a way that made Remus melt. “You’ll have to, ah, fuck me harder than that, then.”

“You’re such a fucking brat.” Remus wrapped one arm around their back and adjusted their hold so Sirius was mostly supported by the wall as he tried to do just that.

“Oh, shit.” Sirius’ fingers raked through Remus’ hair and over his shoulders, their breath going all broken and choppy with every thrust. “Fuck, Remus, yeah, fuck.”

Remus closed his eyes, trying to stop himself from tipping over the edge into a climax. “I want you like this — like this all the fucking time. Ah, fuck.”

Sirius moaned, shivering a little. “God, I’m gonna—I’m gonna come—”

“Come on, yeah, fuck, Sirius.” Remus kept his pace up as Sirius tightened around him. “Fuck.”

“Ah, oh god…” Sirius made a sharp little keening noise, their back arching off the wall as they came, their body shuddering and shivering, fingers digging into Remus’ shoulders.

Feeling Sirius clenching and shuddering around him and against him sent Remus over. With a few more stuttering thrusts, Remus came deep inside Sirius with a loud moan. “Oh, fuck.”


	17. Chapter 17

Sirius opened their eyes, breathing hard as they carded one hand through Remus’ hair where his head was resting against their chest. The warmth of Remus coming inside them felt like the best thing in the world, Sirius didn’t even care they were plastered against the wall and probably moaned loud enough for the neighbours three doors down to hear.

“Fuck…” Sirius breathed, not wanting to move even a little bit.

“I need to put you down or I’m going to fall over.” Remus was practically shaking in an attempt to keep them both up right.

Sirius chuckled softly, letting their leg fall from Remus’ shoulder. “You’re gonna have to pull out else it’s gonna ruin this lovely afterglow entirely.” Sirius’ voice sounded strange to their own ears.

Remus carefully moved their hips, holding on to to Sirius’ still.

“Fuck,” Sirius said again, more to themselves than anything else, dropping both legs down to touch the floor, feeling shaky themselves. “Bed? Just... catch our breath.”

“Yeah.” Remus grabbed their hand and went for the bed. He flopped down on his back, still breathing hard.

Sirius crawled onto the bed next to him, pressing a few idle kisses over his chest and upper arm, still a little taken aback. Remus had never been like that before, never so forthright and demanding. Sirius probably shouldn’t have worked him up by stretching and being a complete brat, but it was just too fun to pass up. Knowing they were the one to push Remus over the edge of wanting was too good.

“Are you all right?” Remus asked with his eyes closed.

“Mmm, more than. I think I’m either dead or some kind of ethereal being…” Sirius threw their arm over their face, still trying to catch their breath.

Remus laughed. “Right, my dick’s that good.”

“You’re learning!” Sirius said, as brightly as they could manage when they felt a little out of it. “It’s that good.”

“Oh god, I fucked you in my mother’s house.” Remus put his hands over his face. “I feel like I need to shower now.”

“Really fucking good too.” Sirius grinned luridly. “Showering sounds like a good idea.”

“Yeah, it was really fucking good, wasn’t it? Shit.” Remus pushed himself up. “If you can be good, princess, you can join me in the shower.”

Sirius gasped, pretending to be affronted. “Remus, caro. I’m  _ always _ good.”

“I’m talking innocent, not good I should say.” Remus scoffed as he went for the door. “Come on.”

“Mm, I suppose.” Sirius rolled onto their side, admiring Remus’ arse as he walked to the door. After a moment they got up, still feeling a little jelly-legged. Whilst they stretched earlier to rile Remus up, it was quite useful now seeing as their hips didn’t hurt from having one leg up over his shoulder.

After a perfectly (reasonably) innocent shower with only minimal kissing and far too much  _ actual _ showering, in Sirius’ opinion, they both got dressed. They decided they would have a day in the house, watching movies and eating Christmas dinner leftovers, and brownies. Sirius pulled on their comfiest t-shirt dress and fluffy socks whilst Remus got dressed in his sweatpants and  _ another _ PureFit shirt.

Downstairs, Sirius got out mugs for coffee. “Are we really doing coffee and brownies?”

“I am.” Remus grinned as he opened the tupperware. “I need to freeze these when we get home.”

Sirius shot him a glance. “When  _ we _ get home?”

Remus’ cheeks went a bit pink. “Yeah, you know, back to our places. Not Wales.”

“Ah, sure.” Sirius bit their lip to try and hide a smile. They didn’t want to force Remus into living together, but he was being stupid to think it wasn’t worth doing when they practically lived at each other’s places anyway. “Get me a brownie too? Unless you want to split that one.” “Let’s split it.” Remus nodded, not even touching back to the topic of where home was.

Sirius frowned and crossed over to him, putting down the coffee mugs they were carrying. “Remus are you feeling alright?” They pressed a hand to his forehead. “ _ Sharing _ sweet things?”

“I don’t want to get you too high.” Remus snickered. “We have that whole bloody cake we can eat later.”

“Ohh, sure. You and your munchies.” Sirius picked up the coffee mugs again. “Can we put the fire on? And watch something… or at least put something on.”

“Sure, I’ll get the fire if you want to find a movie.” Remus nodded as they went into the living room.

“Deal,” Sirius said, setting the coffees on the table and settling on the sofa to flick through the choices. “What do you fancy?”

“Something holiday-like but not a Christmas movie.” Remus shrugged as he went over to the fireplace.

“Hmm, okay okay.” Sirius scrolled through the movies on offer until they found  _ Bridget Jones’ Diary _ . “Oh, this one, this one.” They set it playing, hoping Remus hadn’t seen the title card so it would be a surprise, before setting the remote down and sipping their coffee.

Remus stood up, padding over to the sofa before he realized what they were watching. “Oh, yeah, good choice.” He chuckled before sitting down.

“Something really easy to watch,” Sirius said, passing Remus his coffee whilst sipping their own.

Remus too the coffee then reached for the brownie. “Mm, true.” He broke the brownie in half then handed one piece to Sirius.

“Am I going to be off my head in two bites?” Sirius grinned, already eating a corner.

“Ah, possibly.” Remus chewed thoughtfully before taking another big bite. “So good though.”

Sirius’ head lolled back onto the sofa, turning to look at Remus. “You ever had sex high?”

Remus shook his head. “Nope.”

“No?” Sirius watched him, eating their own brownie and chewing thoughtfully. They thought of Remus earlier saying  _ oh god, I fucked you in my mother’s house _ and smiled softly. “We can fix that.”

“Oh god, wasn’t that enough?” Remus pointed above them then popped the rest of his brownie into his mouth.

Sirius rolled their eyes. “Not right  _ now _ .” They ate the rest of their brownie, grinning. “Although I probably will lose interest in the film and want to snog you senseless soon. I love you like that… knowing what you want, and taking it.”

“Yeah, you’re the only one who’s ever made me like that.” Remus grinned over at them.

“I’ll wear it like a badge of honour.”

“Good.” Remus took a sip of his coffee.

“You’re so handsome, you know.” Sirius bit their lip, drinking their coffee. “I don’t think that brownie was so strong.”

“Sirius, give it a bit.” Remus snorted a laugh, patting their leg.

“Alright, alright, Mr. I’ve Been Getting Stoned for Decades.” Sirius grinned over at him, catching his hand and linking their fingers.

“Decades? It’s been a decade and a half maybe.” Remus shook his head.

Sirius waved a hand. “Pedant.”

“You’re hyperbolic.” Remus set his coffee aside and pulled Sirius closer to him.

“Then we’re a perfect match,” Sirius said, moving along the sofa and cuddling into Remus’ side.

“Obviously.” Remus kissed their temple. “Mmm, I’m so happy you’re here. It feels like you belong here.”

Sirius reached over Remus to set their own coffee down. “I feel the same… I like it here, a lot.”

“I’m glad I’ve never brought anyone home before.” Remus pressed his lips to the corner of Sirius’ mouth.

“Me neither. I like being the first one to come here with you. We get all our firsts together.” Sirius turned their head to kiss Remus on the mouth.

“Not  _ all _ .” Remus chuckled.

“A lot of firsts, then. Nearly all the good ones.” Sirius rolled their eyes. “Pedant.”

Remus pulled them in for a proper kiss, hand sliding up the hem of their t-shirt dress. Sirius hummed in reply, turning to meet his kiss. They felt a little floaty with satisfaction, and probably the weed, too, really. Their hand braced on Remus’ knee as they leaned closer, smiling into the kiss.

“God, now we’re snogging on the sofa.” Remus laughed against Sirius’ lips.

Sirius grinned, biting their lip and pulling back a little to look at Remus. “That’s what you  _ do _ in your childhood living room, I reckon. … Did you not have all those awkward fumbles with your teenage crush in here, half-terrified your parents would come home?”

“No, I was terrified of sex back then.” Remus snickered.

“Oh,” Sirius said softly. Sometimes they forgot how cautious Remus was of sex when they first started going out. Now they were comfortable, Sirius felt like they’d unleashed something in the man. “Now you’re not, if upstairs is anything to go by.”

Remus laughed, his hand sliding further up their thigh. “You’d be right about that.”

Sirius wriggled a little closer, grinning. “I think so too.”

“You’re not going to be able to think properly soon,” Remus reminded them but continued to kiss Sirius.

Sirius sank into him, grinning. True, they felt a little giggly, but it was fine. They could still think as  _ straight _ as they needed to, which was not very much at all. “Mm, shush, more kissing,” Sirius murmured, turning a little to put a hand on Remus’ chest.

Remus obliged, pulling them on to his lap. “Sure, princess.”

“He says,” Sirius mumbled between kisses, “pulling me into his lap.” 

“Kissing or not, I like you here.” Remus hummed before returning his lips to Sirius’.

Sirius grinned, loving that Remus loved this. They pulled away after a moment to trail their mouth down Remus’ neck, nipping the skin a little. Remus let out a soft moan as he lightly trailed his fingers down Sirius’ thigh. Sirius smiled to themselves, chuckling softly, their hand coming up to tug the neckline of Remus’ shirt out of the way so they could kiss more of his skin.

“Hmm, feels good.” Remus’ hand continued to travel up and down.

“That’s the point, caro,” Sirius snickered, biting at the juncture of Remus’ neck and shoulder.

“Keep going.” Remus urged them on.

Sirius tutted softly, biting again a little lower so it would be hidden by Remus’ shirt. “Your manners are awful, darling.”

“Bring that up to your best mate, Hope, later.” Remus snickered.

“Ooh, sassy.” Sirius sat back on their heels, hands going to the hem of Remus’ shirt. “Off,  _ please _ , caro.”

“Of course, anything you want, princess.” Remus held his arms up, grinning at Sirius.

Sirius rolled their eyes, pulling Remus’ shirt off and dropping it next to them. “So sassy,” they said, chuckling softly as they nuzzled back under Remus’ jaw, kissing and licking and biting.

“You like it.” Remus’ hands both traveled up to their arse.

“I will neither confirm or deny that, Remus Lupin.” Sirius arched into him a little, one hand cupping Remus’ jaw, thumb feathering beneath his ear. They continued to kiss their way along his clavicle, sucking lightly at one point.

“You don’t have to do it verbally, I’ve physical confirmation.” A hand slid around to their hip.

“Ah, ah.” Sirius caught Remus’ wrist, pulling it away and pressing it into the sofa cushion next to them. “No, I’m having fun first,” they murmured, going back to kissing all down the side of Remus’ neck and across his collarbones.

“Brat.” Remus tried to move his other hand in the same direction.

Sirius rolled their eyes. “Says you.” They grasped for his other hand with theirs, lifting their head from his neck, getting a hold of it and pinning it besides them too. “It’s the rules, Remus. Childhood home, reenacting your teenage years rules. Make out until you’re fucking desperate for it to go further.”

“But don’t you want my hands on you?” Remus tried to move his arms.

Sirius laughed. Dammit, Remus knew their weaknesses so well. “Tempting, but no.” Sirius ducked their head again, back to swirl their tongue over the soft spot beneath Remus’ ear.

“Ah, yeah, fucking hell.” Remus’ hips rocked up.

“Oh there we go,” Sirius murmured, lightly raking their teeth over Remus’ earlobe with their teeth as they shifted a little closer, straddling Remus’ hips and pressing their own down.

“Yeah, mmm.” Remus tipped his head back.

Sirius hummed softly, kissing and licking back down Remus’ neck until, almost out of nowhere, they were hit with the giggles. Their grip loosened on Remus’ wrists and they buried their face in his neck, laughing in earnest.

“Are you fucking kidding me, Sirius? Right now?” Remus groaned.

“Sorry!” Sirius said, not sounding sorry at all as they laughed even more, making a futile attempt at pressing kisses to Remus’ neck between chuckles.

“You’re such an amateur.” Remus scoffed, his hands going to their back.

“You love it.” Sirius lifted their head from his neck, grinning at him. “You find it endearing.”

“Maybe if I wasn’t insanely horny right now.” Remus put a hand over his face.

Sirius leaned forward and kissed across Remus’ knuckles, trying not to laugh but still grinning ear to ear. Nothing was even funny, they just couldn’t stop laughing. “I can help with that, hm?”

“Sirius how high are you right now?” Remus shook his head.

“Not that high, I bet. Still horny.” Sirius plucked at Remus’ hand to pull it away from his face, kissing down to his wrist.

Remus raised an eyebrow because Sirius’ shoulders were still shaking from laughter. “How about we break out that cake first?”

“Mmm, I suppose.” They reluctantly let go of Remus’ hand but didn’t move from his lap.

“Okay.” Remus physically moved Sirius from his lap onto the sofa. He pecked them on the lips. “And maybe some water too.”

Thankfully, when Hope came home from the shop, both Sirius and Remus were fully clothed, and looking, for all intents and purposes, like they had just had a movie day and eaten cake. Sirius was snuggled up against Remus’ side, their feet tucked under a blanket, with Remus’ arm around their shoulder.

“Hi dears.” Hope smiled at them. “How was your day?”

Sirius glanced up at Remus, smirking. “It was wonderful.”

“What’d you do? Anything fun?” Hope looked around the room.

“Nothing much.” Remus shrugged.

“Yeah, just relaxed, really.” Sirius hid their grin in Remus’ shoulder, not able to be as deadpan as him when they could feel a new hickey on their shoulder.

“Well, I’m sad you’ll be leaving tomorrow.” She frowned.

“Me too,” Sirius said, meaning it, really, because they did love Hope, and really got on with her. “Thank you for having us.”

“Come up any time. I’m going to miss you  _ both _ terribly.” Hope looked to the kitchen. “I’ll make us something quick to eat then we can chat a bit?”

“Want a hand?” Sirius made to stand up, moving forwards.

“You can just watch if you want.” Hope shrugged. “I feel like I’m going to be lonely without you both.”

Remus frowned. “I love you, mam. I wish we didn’t live so far away.”

Sirius bit their lip as the three of them went into the kitchen, sitting at the table to keep Hope company. “We can just visit more often, Rem.”

“Yeah, sure,” Remus agreed, grabbing Sirius’ hand.

“I should just move closer to you.” She laughed. “Though, it’d probably drive you both mad.”

Sirius grinned. “We could meet up for lunch.”

“You’d actually like that?” She questioned before opening a cabinet.

“Yeah, mam, I would love it.” Remus nodded.

Sirius took Remus’ hand. “We both would.”


	18. Chapter 18

Remus and Sirius spent the few days back from Wales between their flats. They were both a little tired from traveling, and spent most of the time on the sofa or cuddling in bed. Remus always enjoyed the days between Christmas and New Years Eve because time seemed to slow. They talked a lot about how the time in Wales went, and how much Sirius loved his mother. Remus really hoped that she was really thinking about moving closer to them. He always missed her so much.

When New Years Eve arrived, Remus was suddenly nervous. He thought about breaking out the stash of weed his mam sent them home with, but thought it was probably better not to be stoned when he met Effy and Monty the first time. The whole drive hour drive to the affluent suburbs where the Potter’s lived, Remus’ stomach was in knots. He couldn’t wait to at least have a glass of champagne. This was the first time he had met anyone’s parents before.

He managed to find a spot on the street Sirius directed him to. It was filled with cars, and Remus wondered how many were going to the Potter’s party. “Okay.” Remus took a deep breath and turned the engine off.

Sirius reached over to take his hand. “They’ll love you, I can guarantee it.”

“Right, I’ll be fine once I meet them.” Remus squeezed their hand.

“You will.” Sirius kissed the back of his hand. “Let’s go.” They let of Remus’ hand and got out the car, already skirting around to the pavement. They were clearly excited to see the Potters.

Remus met them at the back to grab the one bag they packed to stay the night. “Are Marly and Dorky coming this year?”

“Yep!” Sirius put a hand on Remus’ shoulder to stand on their toes—they were already in heels so taller than Remus—and look around. “I think that’s their car too.”

“Well, I guess they’ll distract me from my anxiety.” Remus laughed, closing the back.

Sirius put their arm around his shoulders. “Listen, James is basically a perfect amalgamation of his parents, so if he likes you, then so will they. C’mon.” They steered Remus towards the steps of the townhouse, grinning.

Remus took a deep breath and followed after them. “Right,” he said as Sirius opened the door.

Immediately, he was taken aback by the home. Even from the front entrance, he could tell it was beautiful. It was warmly lit, and as Sirius led them both through the crowd of people all around, he saw how modern but vintage the place was. It had a 70’s-ish vibe to it all but yet felt older but modern at the same time. “This place is amazing.”

“Isn’t it?” Sirius said over their shoulder, leading Remus through to the back of the house where there was a living room with full height doors. The garden beyond was filled with patio heaters and tables and chairs, and more people. “Ah, I see them! Let’s say hi then we’ll go find the others.”

“And we have to put our bag down.” Remus felt a bit awkward carrying it.

“Ah, shit! Sorry! Here—” Sirius paused in the living room, taking the bag from Remus’ hand and setting it next to a bookcase in the corner— “just leave it here for a minute, we can get it on our way back —oh, ho, Effy’s spotted us.” Sirius shot them a smile before turning to meet the woman who came through the doorway.

“Sirius!” The woman called. Remus presumed it was Effy. “Ah, and Remus! Hello darling, how are you? Did you get here alright? Find parking? We’ve taken over the whole street I think.”

Sirius was enveloped into a hug by Effy, hugging her back. “We’re fine, found a parking space after a little while. Yeah.” Sirius pulled away and gestured to Remus. “Rem, this is Euphemia Potter. Effy, Remus Lupin. You know already, I know, but, here you are.”

“Nice to meet you!” Remus was surprised at being hugged by the shorter woman.

“Ah, wonderful to meet you Remus!” Effy even patted his cheek. “I’ve heard all about you both but I’m going to need it straight from the horse’s mouth when we’re not partying. I’ll need to find Fleamont too, let him know you’re here… he’s probably mixing cocktails with Marlene, actually, isn’t he?”

“With Marlene?” Remus was a bit surprised.

Sirius grinned. “They get on like a house on fire. Where do you think Marly gets all her cocktail knowledge? Okay, we’ll go put our bag upstairs then go find him.” Sirius kissed Effy’s cheek. “You need a hand with anything first?”

“No, no, darling, you’re fine. Go mingle, get a drink.” Effy smiled at them both. I’ll catch up with you later—oh, there’s Gillian!” Effy patted Remus on the arm on her way past to go and see someone else.

“Oh, yeah, yes.” Remus watched her walk away. “She’s a bit more… excitable than I thought.” Remus assumed she was a bit more uptight from what Sirius said.

Sirius shook their head. “She’s had a few drinks, I’d think. She’s wonderful, she  _ loves _ hosting more than anything. Forever finding excuses for a party.” 

“Well, she seems lovely.” Remus smiled. “So bag then Marly and Monty?”

“You got it,” Sirius said, smiling ear to ear. They kept a hold of Remus’ hand as they weaved through the people and up two flights of stairs. Even upstairs there were people mingling, in a room filled with books that Remus was intrigued by and in the hallway. Sirius knew the way without having to check and Remus thought the room they were staying in might have been theirs when they lived here. Sirius pushed the door open and stepped out of the way so Remus could bring their bag in. “Here, let’s just dump our stuff then go back downstairs.”

“Okay.” Remus set the bag down on the large bed then turned to Sirius. “Jesus, this is a nice bed.”

“That’s my old bed. It was so comfy.” Sirius crossed over to him. “Don’t get lying down, or we’ll never go back downstairs.”

“Right, I won’t. Later.” Remus put his hands on their hips. He was excited for later. Ever since returning from Wales, Remus wanted to ask Sirius to move in but he was holding on to their agreement. So, after midnight, as long as they weren’t completely wasted, he was going to ask Sirius to move in.

Sirius rolled their eyes. “Definitely later. Come on.” They tugged on his hands, pulling him up and towards the door. “You need to meet Monty, you’ll love him. And we should find James before he gets annoyed I haven’t come to lavish him in attention yet.”

Remus laughed as they headed back down the stairs. He was excited to see James and Lily as well. They hadn’t hung out in over a week, nor had he seen his own mates. Everyone was so busy with the holidays. They were going to have to make plans with them all soon.

Downstairs, Sirius led them towards the bar set up in the living room. Marlene was chatting with a man that looked nearly identical to James with the exception of having grey hair. That clearly had to be Monty. “Sirius!” The man said loudly and Marly looked over at them with a grin.

“Look! You two are alive. Survived Wales.” Marlene laughed.

“I dunno that you’d call it  _ surviving _ , Marly,” Sirius said, grinning, as they crossed over to hug Monty. “Monty, this is Remus. Remus, Fleamont Potter, responsible for the state of James’ hair, clearly.” Sirius chuckled.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr Potter.” Remus put his hand out but Fleamont came around to hug him.

“It’s Monty, Remus! Please! Also, Sirius, enough lip from you.” He laughed as he pulled away from Remus. “So, the man who has made Sirius go all gooey, huh?”   


“Er, Monty!” Sirius laughed. “It’s a big secret I’m actually a sap. Can you not?” 

“I told you it wasn’t a secret.” Remus grinned at them.

“You’re both saps.” Marlene leaned on the bar. “How was Christmas? Did either of you propose yet?”

Remus rolled his, what the fuck was it with everyone talking about marraige? It was certainly not time yet.

Sirius answered for them. “No proposals. Some of us are sensible, Marly.” They nudged her with their hip. “C’mon, pour me a drink.”

“Nothing blue… or yellow, please for the love of god, Marly.” Remus looked to the woman.

“Well, Effy and I were married after six months.” Monty got them back on the topic and Remus groaned internally.

“Yeah, but wasn’t that like the 19th century, Dad?” James appeared, coming to the rescue and clapping a hand on his dad’s shoulder. “How long have you two been here?” He bustled over to Remus, hugging him tightly. 

“We just got in a few minutes ago.” Remus hugged him back.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry.” Sirius hugged James, grinning. “You were next on my list to come find.”

“Bloody right as well, neglecting your own brother.”

“Where’s Lily and Dorky?” Remus asked, curious where their other friends were.

“Lily’s having a cigarette,” James replied, finally putting Sirius down. “I think Dorky’s out there with her.”

“You two should go say hello! Enjoy the night,” Monty encouraged them.

Remus and Sirius agreed and went out to find them both. They were stood by one of the heaters chatting, and Remus and Sirius joined — with pink drinks now thanks to Marly. The party went out and they mingled a bit. Of course, Remus and Sirius kept drifting back to each other because that was just how it was. At one point in the evening, Remus headed to the bathroom. It was far more quiet in that part of the house, so Remus sort of took his time as he walked down the hall back to the party. To his surprise, Effy was coming down the hall at them.

“Oh, hi, Effy,” He said as she smiled at him.

“Hello darling! How are you doing? Having a good time so far?” Effy looked like she was on a mission, but as soon as Remus greeted her she stopped, apparently happy to talk.

Remus leaned against the wall. “I’m having an amazing night. Your home’s so nice and you and Monty are great hosts.”

Effy waved a hand. “Of course, of course. You’re practically part of the family, Remus. I can see how happy Sirius is with you, too.”

Remus felt himself flush. “Oh, family? We just met.” He laughed. “Thank you. I’m happy with them too.”

Effy looked at him over the top of her glasses. “Family, darling. You’re important to Sirius, you’re important to us. God knows you’re a thousand times better than some of the other people they’ve brought to meet us.”

“Ah, thank you.” Remus smiled, not sure what to say to that.

“Oh, I bet I’ve put my foot in it now.” Effy smiled kindly. “What I mean to say, is Sirius is happy, and that makes us happy too, Monty and I, and Jamie too. And that means you’re very important to us.”

“You didn’t put your foot in it, I know what you meant. I’m just… I’m not that great with the words sometimes.” He chuckled.

“Well good, I’m glad. That’s what love does to you, turns you stupid, I think.” Effy grinned mischievously. “That’s what Monty always blames it on, anyway.”

“Oh, I must be the daftest person on earth then.” Remus rubbed the back of his neck.

Effy laughed. “Right answer, darling, right answer.”

“Good. I really do love them, I — you’ve done a good job with them.” He laughed again.

“I’m glad to hear it.” Effy looked genuinely pleased. “I’m…” She sighed a little. “We were glad to just get Sirius somewhere happier, they really flourished here with us. They’re our child just as much as Jamie is. I’m glad they’re happy with you, too.”

“I can tell, Sirius loves you all so much.” Remus nodded, thinking about what his mother had said about how the Potters were probably far more Sirius’ parents than the Blacks were.

“That’s lovely to hear.” Effy smiled. “Now, come on, let’s get back to the party. Tomorrow once everyone’s gone, after brunch, we can chat some more, hm?”

Remus agreed and followed after her. He felt so much better after talking to her for some reason, like it was all real and meant to be. Remus wondered if Sirius felt that with his mam.

Effy squeezed Remus’ arm before they parted ways, Effy bustling off to go and see some friend in the kitchen whilst Remus went in search of his friends too.

Soon enough it was midnight, and Remus made sure to have an arm around Sirius as it struck one minute to midnight. He couldn’t believe how happy he was when less than half a year ago, Remus didn't want much to do with a relationship at all. “I’m glad we’re celebrating the New Year like this.” He smiled at Sirius.

“Me too,” Sirius said excitedly, huddled up to Remus’ side as they were gathered outside ready to watch the fireworks go off through the neighbourhood. “Wouldn’t want it any other way.”

“Me too.” Remus pressed a kiss to their jaw as the countdown started. 

As cheers of  _ Happy New Year _ rang out, Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius and gave them a little dip as he kissed them for a moment. Sirius put a hand on Remus’ cheek, sighing into the kiss. Remus pulled back a little with a grin. “Move in with me.”

Sirius’ eyes went wide a moment before they grinned broadly. “Wh — yes. Yes, yes.” They threw their arms around his shoulders, kissing him deeply.

Remus pulled them close, returning the kiss. He felt dizzy over the whole thing as they continued to kiss as the party went on around them both. They didn’t break apart until Marly’s voice broke through. “Ugh, really you two?”

Sirius pulled away enough to say, “You two can fucking talk,” before kissing Remus again, smiling into the kiss.

They kissed probably too long for being in public than Remus was used to before enjoying the rest of the party. Eventually, most of the guests began to filter home, and Sirius suggested they go up to bed when they had let out two long yawns. Remus used the bathroom first then crawled into bed and waited for Sirius. They were right, it was insanely comfy.

After a few minutes, Sirius came into the room. They were wearing a big shirt that Remus suspected was one of his, and big pyjama bottoms. Sirius gave Remus a smile as they crawled into bed next to him.

“So, a good night?” Remus asked them, rolling over and putting an arm over their middle.

Sirius didn’t quite cuddle up to Remus like they usually did. “An amazing night. Did you have a good time, caro?”

“Amazing.” Remus pressed a kiss to their neck. “I can’t wait for you to move in. I’m sorry I was a stubborn git.”

“It’s okay,” Sirius said, smiling softly. “It wasn’t the right time then, but it is now. And I love you being a stubborn git… most of the time.”

Remus chuckled kissing across their clavicle, where the collar was dipping. “The Potters are so nice.”

“They are…” Sirius squirmed a little, their hand going to Remus’ shoulder. “Rem…”

“What, love?” Remus pulled back.

Sirius’ eyes were shut. “I’m — I’m sorry, I’m not… in the mood.”

“Oh, that’s fine.” Remus shrugged. “Can we cuddle, is that okay, or would you like me to move?”

“Er… can we cuddle? Just…” Sirius pushed at Remus’ shoulder so he was lying on his back then cuddled up to his side, curled up. “Yeah… sorry.”

“You don’t have to be sorry, Sirius, there’s nothing to apologize for. I understand. Believe me, if there’s anyone who understands not being in the mood…”

Sirius smiled softly. “I know, I know. Fucking dysphoria comes along when you’re in the mood and ruins everything…” They pressed a kiss to Remus’ shoulder, sighing a little.

“You didn’t ruin a thing, I swear.” Remus kissed the top of their head. “Did something happen, or are you just… is it just one of those days?”

“Nah.” Sirius shrugged. “Just… seeing everyone dressed up all nice, I think? Makes me conscious of… not fitting in.”

“Oh, I see.” Remus nodded. “Is there anything you want me to do?”

Sirius bit their lip, thinking for a moment. “I don’t think so.” They pressed a kiss to the corner of Remus’ mouth. “Want me to get you off? We can do that…”

“No, it’s fine. I’m not much interested if you’re not interested. It’s really not a big deal. I’m happy to cuddle in this insanely comfortable bed,” Remus assured them.

“Mm, that sounds nice.” Sirius settled back down. “I love you. Can’t wait to move in together.”

“I love you too, I can’t wait either.” Remus kissed their temple.

“Think we can manage it before the comp. in February?” Sirius mumbled, their eyes closing.

“Oh! I hope so. It could be a bit of a celebration for moving in together, huh?” Remus kissed their cheek.

“Mhmm, even more reason to go to Tuscany now, too. And then we get to come back to  _ our _ flat…”

“Yeah, our flat.” Remus closed his eyes. “Goodnight, love.”

“Goodnight, caro.” 


	19. Chapter 19

Sirius woke up slowly, nestled into Remus’ side. Usually they were wide awake instantly, but it had been a late night seeing in the new year, and feeling odd about themselves always made Sirius tired. It only took a little longer for Sirius to be awake enough to slip out of bed, leaving Remus fast asleep, as usual.

Last night had been wonderful. Remus had gotten on so well with Monty and Effy, and then it had been the cherry on top for Remus to ask them to move in with him. Sirius grinned to themselves at the memory; Hope would be pleased. On their way downstairs, via the bathroom, Sirius texted Hope with the news. In the kitchen, Monty was sat at the breakfast bar with a large cup of coffee. Effy was leaning against the counter, looking as if she was thinking about making a start on food. The caterer from the night before had tidied up most of the party debris.

“Good morning, darling,” Effy said, her smile brightening when she saw them.

“Morning Effy, morning Monty.” Sirius slipped onto one of the stools, pulling Remus’ hoodie around them.

“Good morning, Sirius.” Monty took a sip of his coffee.

“You sleep alright, darling?” Effy set a mug of coffee in front of Sirius.

“Yeah, like a log, as always. Thanks.” They gestured to the coffee and took a long drink.

“Remus is wonderful.” Monty nodded.

Sirius couldn’t wipe the grin off their face, thinking of Remus’ reaction the night before, thinking of how good he was with them. “Yeah… he is, isn’t he?”

“He’s lovely. I approve very much,” Effy said, sitting opposite them.

“Oh, thanks.” Sirius tried to sound light and joking, but for Effy to approve meant a lot to them.

“He looked flustered after Marlene brought up marriage. Is that going to happen soon?”

Sirius shook their head. “You’re relentless Monty. No, I don’t think it’s on the cards, for a while at least… Last night though, he, er, asked me to move in with him.”

“OH MY GOD! YOU’RE MOVING IN TOGETHER!?” Marlene shrieked, making them all jump.

“Christ!” Sirius cringed, turning to see Marlene in the doorway, already fully dressed, looking like she’d just come in from a run. “Tell the whole house why don’tcha McKinnon!”

“This is so exciting! We’ve all been dying for it to happen, you know? We have a separate group text talking about it.” Marly gave them a big hug.

Effy was chuckling. “Yes, congratulations darling.”

Sirius rolled their eyes; of course they had a group chat. “Oh ha ha, were there bets made? I want a cut of the winner’s share,” they said as they hugged Marly back before smiling at Effy. “Thank you.”

“I think Mare won…” She stepped back with a furrowed brow. “Bloody stars or some shit.”

All of a sudden, footsteps came pounding down the stairs above the kitchen, and then along the hallway, until James burst into the room, glasses askew and hair haywire. “Did I just hear what I thought I heard?!” James all but ran over to Sirius and took them by the shoulders. “Is my baby growing up!?”

Sirius laughed, feeling their cheeks flush. “Oh my god Potter shut up. Yes, okay. Remus asked me to move in last night.”

“Oh my god!” James plastered a hand to his forehead. When Sirius punched him on the arm he straightened up, grinning. “Happy for you, Sirius. Really.”

“Me too, you fucking dork.”

“We should celebrate with a huge breakfast!” Monty suggested.

“Oh! Yes! I’m sure I’ve enough to do waffles as well as pancakes and eggs and bacon… We can do a whole spread!” Effy clapped her hands together, going off to the fridge to investigate.

“Perfect!” Marly clapped. “Need any help, Effy?”

“Yes, actually darling! Could you go and see if there are more eggs in the pantry?” Effy was already making something interesting looking in a large bowl.

Sirius glanced to the side to see James grinning at them. They shoved him in the shoulder and rolled their eyes. “You’re a dick, Potter. Stop being such a weirdo.”

James scoffed. “Just happy for you, sib.”

Sirius slipped off their stool, throwing an arm around James’ shoulders for a minute before moving to the coffee pot. “I’m gonna go tell Remus I’ve thrown him the lions,” they said to no one in particular, pouring Remus a cup of coffee. “Anyone need anything from upstairs?”

“No, thank you darling!” Effie trilled.

James shrugged. “Lils is still sleeping, don’t go near her I’d say.”

“Dorky will be down in a minute. Don’t worry about her.” Marly waved a hand.

“I’m surprised you two weren’t out running together.” Sirius scooped up both cups of coffee.

“She’s hungover, which is amazing. I think it was the last glass of champagne.”

“Ah yes, that single last glass did the most damage. Not anything else, at all.” Sirius shot Marlene a grin as they headed for the stairs. They passed all the bedrooms with doors shut on that floor, then up the stairs again. At their bedroom they paused, surprised to hear voices on the other side of the door.

“Mam, it’s so early.” Remus groaned.

“For you maybe! And besides, Sirius text me earlier with some news!” Hope’s voice sounded a bit tinny, and Sirius figured they were talking on speakerphone or something.

“Did they now? You’re texting one another?”

“Yes, we are. It’s a wonder, these early morning chats. Anyway, stop deflecting, Remus John. You finally saw sense, hm?”

“Ugh, yeah, they’re moving in.”

Sirius panicked for a split second at the tone of Remus’ voice, before they heard Hope laughing. “So you realised I was right! And they were too. My stubborn boy.”

“I just hate when other people are right, apparently.” Remus scoffed. “I’m so bloody happy, mam.”

“Just like your dad, like that.” Hope sighed happily. “I’m so glad you’re happy dear. You deserve it.”

“Yeah, I — yeah, sometimes it doesn’t even feel real.” Remus sounded like he was smiling.

Sirius leaned their hip against the doorway. They agreed; it didn’t feel real sometimes, how wonderful they were together, how good Remus was with them, how much they understood each other. Sirius couldn’t wait until they lived together, woke up together every morning.

“That’s love for you, dear,” Hope said.

“Effy said that it makes you stupid. I said I’m the dumbest person on earth.”

Sirius bit their lip, smiling. Effy always said that, love makes you stupid. God, they loved Remus so much it was scary sometimes. After a moment, they knocked lightly on the door. “Hey, it’s me. I brought coffee,” Sirius said as they slipped into the room.

“That sounds about right,” Hope said over the phone, chuckling.

“Hi, love.” Remus looked over at them. He was holding the phone above his face, still on his back.

“Oh, hello Sirius dear!” Hope called.

“Hi!” Sirius called back, crossing over to the bed. They set the coffees on the side before climbing on next to Remus and sitting up against the pillows. It was then they realised Remus was video-calling and not just on the phone. They leaned in to the frame and smiled, waving. “Hi!”

“I’m so happy for you both! This makes me want to move closer even more!” Hope smiled at them.

“Mam, you really should.” Remus took Sirius’ hand.

Sirius kissed Remus’ knuckles. “It would be great to have you closer by.”

“Please, do!” Remus practically begged. “We can even look for a place to open up your own shop.”

“You know, I’ve actually been looking into it.” Hope grinned.

“Yes!” Sirius squeezed Remus’ hand. It was funny how well they got on with Hope, and they could see how happy Remus would be to have their mam closer by. “You should, you should.”

“I’ll let you know the plans, dears. I’ll let you go. I hope to meet the Potters very soon.”

“Yeah! We can all have dinner once you’ve got your new shop,” Sirius said, smiling.

“I’ll have to break open the cookbook Remus got me for Christmas.” She chuckled. “I love you both, have a nice day.”

“Ah, I think leave the baked goods to me.” Remus nodded. “Bye, mam.”

Sirius nudged Remus in the side. “Us.”

“I’m not reminding you of your lone experience with the brownies right now.” Remus rolled his eyes. “Say goodbye to my mother.”

Sirius stuck their tongue out at Remus before smiling nicely at Hope. “Bye, Hope. See you soon!”

“Bye!” She said one last time before the call went off.

Remus set his phone aside then sighed. “Did I hear someone scream downstairs?”

Sirius winced a little. “Mm, maybe?” They picked up Remus’ coffee from the side and held it out to him. “I told Effy and Monty we were moving in together… Marly heard and shrieked about it, then James heard Marly and came running down the stairs shouting ‘Did I hear that right?!’... So uh, yeah.”

“Christ, really?” Remus snickered and took the coffee. “Well, it was bound to happen, wasn’t it?”

“Marly has a habit of just hearing the right things at the right time. It’s ridiculous.” Sirius sat up, picking up their own coffee.

“I’m keeping my mother far from her. She’ll accidently spill that it’s all thanks to her we’re together,” Remus whispered as if Marly was nearby.

Sirius looked around, making sure she wasn’t about to burst out of the wardrobe. “Agreed, it can never get out.”

Remus smiled then kissed their cheek. “Good morning, I love you.”

Sirius all but melted. “Good morning, I love you too. You sleep okay?”

“This might be better than your mattress.” Remus took a sip of his coffee.

“Oh! No way, no way. My mattress is fucking beautiful, Remus. I’m offended.” Sirius grinned over the rim of their cup.

“You’re funny.” Remus kissed their cheek again. “How are you feeling this morning?”

“Mm, a bit better, I think?” Sirius left their head drop onto his shoulder. “Thank you.”

“Good, that’s good.” Remus rested his head against theirs. “I’m so excited, Sirius.”

Sirius’ insides went all squiggly. “Me too. So much, Rem, so much.”

“I’m most excited for the bed, clearly.” Remus teased them.

“Oh sure,” Sirius said, nudging his head with theirs. “You better be nice else I won’t bring my mattress with me.”

“I thought you liked the sass.” Remus chuckled.

Sirius rolled their eyes, sipping their coffee. “I love your sass, Rem, just not where good sleep is concerned, clearly.”


	20. Chapter 20

Remus woke up to the bed bouncing. They had slept at Sirius’ because Remus’ bed had been tossed the other day in preparation for Sirius’ arrival. He cracked an eye open to see Sirius’ feet bouncing on the bed in the spot where they normally slept. “What on earth are you doing?”

“It’s moving day!” Sirius landed on their knees from a perfect-gymnast jump. “I’m so excited!”

“I can tell, oh my god, what time is it?” Remus put a hand over his face.

Sirius crawled forward, kissing Remus’ knuckles. “Nope, not letting you know the time, it’ll be too early for you.”

Remus hummed. It had been a month since Remus asked Sirius to move in with him. They had sorted through their flats, did some cleaning out of things they didn’t need, and started to move things in yesterday. Today was the last day, and Sirius was going to be officially leaving their flat for Remus’. It was exciting, but Remus didn’t want to wake up just yet. “It’s too early, so I’m shutting my eyes.”

“Mmm, okay, shut your eyes, caro.” Sirius smiled, brushing the hair away from Remus’ forehead.

“This feels like a trap.” Remus didn’t care too much as his eyes fluttered shut.

“I wouldn’t do that to you,” Sirius murmured, kissing Remus’ forehead, then down over his temple and cheek.

Remus wrapped his arms around Sirius. “No?”

“Nuh-uh, I’m always nice.” Sirius’ mouth trailed down over Remus’ cheek and jaw, down to his ear. Remus could practically feel them smiling.

“You’re not, you’re a brat sometimes.” Remus kept his eyes shut.

Sirius tutted softly, their hand going to Remus’ chest. “Mm, I think you like that too though,” they whispered, nipping at the shell of his ear.

“I’m not going to answer that one way or another.” Remus bit his lip.

“What was it you said?” Sirius kissed behind his ear. “You don’t need to do it verbally, I’ve physical confirmation.” They kissed down his neck, swirling their tongue.

“Ah, Sirius.” Remus tilted his head.

Sirius answered by nipping Remus’ neck, sinking their teeth in a little.

“This is the best way to wake up,” Remus murmured.

“Mm good.” Sirius’ mouth was suddenly gone and the mattress shifted a little. “Now wake up, and we can continue when we’re at  _ our flat _ .”

“You fucking  — Sirius!” Remus sat up straight to find Sirius scrambling over to the ladder. “BRAT!”

Sirius’ laughter echoed through the whole flat before Remus heard the bathroom door shut.

Remus groaned as he rolled out of bed, Sirius still laughing away in the bathroom. He was going to have to get them back somehow. Remus wasn’t sure how they were going to get the bed down from the loft today, but he didn’t want to think about it for a moment. Once down the ladder, Remus went straight to the kitchen to find two cups of coffee and two doughnuts. At least there were coffee and sweets.

Taking one of the cups, Remus went to sit one one of the kitchen chairs. The sofa had been sold the other day, so that wasn’t an option. A few minutes later the bathroom door opened.

Sirius padded over, a smirk on their face as they picked up the other coffee. “Good morning, caro.”

“I’m not talking to you at the moment.” He bit into the doughnut.

“Okay, sure.” Sirius leaned over and kissed Remus’ cheek before heading off back up the ladder in their towel.

Remus huffed then finished his doughnut. The flat was nearly empty aside from a few more boxes (mostly records), the bed, and a bag of clothes. Remus was going to miss it because it was such a nice place. It also held a lot of memories of their first seven months together.

After finishing his doughnut, and drinking most of his coffee, Remus went back up to the loft to get changed. Sirius was sitting on the bed typing away on their phone. He bit his lip, trying to stick to not talking to Sirius, as if that would last.

Sirius smiled softly, flopping back onto the bed after throwing their phone down beside them. 

Remus glanced over at them before pulling on his shirt.

“You’re so funny,” Sirius said.

He turned back to his clothes, lip still between his teeth as he shimmied out of his bottoms. Remus was the most stubborn human. He wasn’t really mad at Sirius, it was just a bit of fun, but he also didn’t want to give in.

Sirius’ hands fell to his hips, surprising Remus a little as he hadn’t heard Sirius get off the bed. “Forgive me, caro?”

Remus shrugged. “Maybe.”

“Mm, pretty please?” Sirius’ hair tickled Remus’ neck as they kissed his shoulder.

“You’re forgiven, but you owe me, I think.” Remus grinned, looking down at his clothes.

Sirius chuckled, their hand sliding down Remus’ thigh. “Okay, you can hold me that.”

“Good, now move your hand because James and Frank are going to be here any minute.”

“Better now that in the middle of things. See, I did a good thing.” Sirius grinned, bumping Remus’ hip with theirs before moving past him to get to their own bag of clothes, dropping their towel.

“We would have been fine, if you didn’t shower.” Remus scoffed as he pulled on his briefs.

“Don’t begrudge me my last shower in this flat, Rem,” Sirius said, trying to sound haughty. 

Remus looked over at Sirius. “Are you actually sad about that, love?”

Sirius shrugged, pulling on their jeans. “I think I’m a bit sad to leave. Lots of memories here.”

“Aww, I’m sorry.” Remus grabbed his own jeans.

Sirius stuck their tongue out. “Don’t patronise me, cheeky.”

“I’m not!” Remus defended himself. “My natural sarcasm is too thick, sorry. I really am sorry you’re sad.”

“Sure.” Sirius rolled their eyes, digging in their bag for a jumper. “Yeah… you know — ” they sat on the edge of the bed to pull their jumper on over their head — “we ended our first date here.”

“I know, love. But think of all the memories we’re going to make in my flat.” Remus went to sit down next to them.

“ _ Our _ flat.” Sirius smiled, biting their lip.

“Our flat, sorry. Ah, I’m going to have to get used to that one.” Remus kissed them on the cheek.

Sirius wrapped their arms around his shoulders, turning their head to kiss Remus’ mouth. “I’ll happily correct you every time.”

“Please do.” Remus pulled them into his lap and kissed them soundly. They kissed back, smiling into the kiss and humming softly in satisfaction.

“Oi, oi, look alive troops!” James’ voice echoed through the flat as the door opened and closed downstairs.

Remus jumped. “Our flat will not be an open door, Potter,” Remus called down to him.

“Ha, told you they were snogging,” Frank said with a laugh.

Remus rolled his eyes.

Sirius groaned, dropping their head back for a moment before climbing off Remus’ lap. “Will you ever  _ not _ cockblock me, James?” They smiled, pressing a kiss to Remus’ forehead. 

“Nope, never.” James clapped his hands. “C’mon, let’s go! Get this furniture in the van!”

“You cockblocked yourself earlier,” Remus all but whispered.

Sirius smirked, biting their lip. “That was just giving you an incentive to get up, caro.”

Remus flipped them off as he stood up.

“What are you two doing up there?” Frank called up.

“Remus is--” Sirius turned towards the ladder, calling down to Frank, but James’ head poked up over the edge of the loft. 

“Thank fuck, I was taking a gamble whether you were naked,” James said, grinning inanely.

“Oh my god.” Remus put his hands over his face. “Really, no fucking open door.”

“It gives the day spice and variety.” James sat on the edge of the loft.

“It’s like roulette, Rem.” Sirius crossed over and smacked a kiss to the top of James’ head. “You never know when James will burst in and ruin the evening.”

“He’s not getting a key.” Remus glared at them both.

“Potter, move your arse.” Frank sounded like he was clambering up the ladder.

James swung his legs up out of the way and shuffled back. “Sorry mate!”

“Okay, so how the fuck do we get this out of here?” Remus changed the subject and pointed to the bed.

“Does it come apart?” James went over to the bed, peering at the base and shoving the mattress over a little to get a better look.

“No idea.” Sirius leaned against the balcony.

“How’d you get it up here?” Remus looked at his partner.

“Mm, I think it must’ve come flat-packed or something then… I don’t remember — the delivery boy was cute and took his shirt off.”

“This sounds like the start to a bad porn.” Remus sighed and shook his head.

James snorted, sounding a little muffled as his head was currently stuck under the bed, probably trying to take it apart. “That’s what I said at the time.”

“Well, what’s it look like under there, Potter?”

“I’ve good news and bad news.” James’ voice came from under the bed still.

Sirius pottered around the bedroom, tidying up the rest of the little things they hadn’t packed yet. “Oh god, what?”

“Well. It does appear to come apart in a nice handy latch in the middle.”

“And…” Remus pushed.

“It also appears said nice, handy latch is broken, and stuck together.”

“Probably from you jumping on the bed this morning!” Remus glared at Sirius.

Frank put his hands over his ears. “I don’t want to know!”

“Oh my god, they were really jumping on the bed, Frank.” Remus rolled his eyes.

James was cackling, his head still under the bed, whilst Sirius was leaning against the wall laughing. 

“I was, I was,” Sirius said, laughing. “I swear,  _ actually _ jumping on the bed.”

“Get your heads out of the gutter.” Remus shot Frank a look.

“Well, who the hell jumps on a bed? What are we, five?” Frank gestured to the bed.

James sat up, giving Frank a look. “Sirius, that’s who.”

Sirius gasped, waving their hands a little. “Oh my  _ god _ , can we go to a trampoline park!?”

“Yeah, if we ever get this bed out of this loft.” Remus crossed his arms. “How are we going to get this down?”

Sirius puffed out their cheeks, thinking for a moment before their expression brightened. “Gee, I dunno, maybe the guy who makes sure heavy things can go up and down walls as part of his job might have an idea?”

“People, not beds.” Remus chuckled.

“Oh, same thing though! I bet we could tie it somehow and then lower it over the edge.” James scrubbed a hand through his hair. “That’s probably the best option, honestly… Besides just scrapping the bed and taking only the mattress to your place, Remus…”

“No, let’s try it.” Remus nodded. “We’ll need to go to my place to get some stuff. Maybe we can take the mattress and everything else over then come back for the base?”

James leapt into action. “Good idea, mate. Let’s go!”


	21. Chapter 21

It took the better part of the day to move the remainder of Sirius’ things into Remus’ flat. Their cobbled-together idea of trying to lower the bed frame with ropes and such did, surprisingly, work. James stubbed his toes only twice and Sirius was only distracted by Remus’ biceps ones and managed to use their own strength to shimmy up the side of the ladder and hang from the top of the balcony to unsnag a rope. Frank, like the bastard he was, escaped with no injuries at all. 

Sirius should’ve been entirely exhausted, but they were too excited to be in Remus’ — their — flat. True, they had had a bit of a teary moment when they locked up the door to their flat for the last time and they and James posted their keys back through the letterbox. But then they had walked through the door to Remus’ flat and seen their record collection next to the bookcases and the player in the corner and their bed in Remus’ bedroom, and it all seemed perfect.

That evening, they came in from dinner at the Greek place around the corner from Remus’ flat. They’d taken James and Frank there as a thank you for helping them move. Over dinner they’d chatted about upcoming things for everyone, and Sirius mentioned how they’d been working hard on their routine for the championships in Prague. It was only two and a half weeks away now, and they were equal parts excited and nervous. Afterwards, they and Remus were going to go to Tuscany for a few days, which would be wonderful. It could be everything Germany  _ should’ve _ been. 

Sirius kicked their shoes off as they came into the flat, going straight for the record player. Remus went to the kitchen, probably to get drinks or something. They knew exactly what to play for their first go in Remus’ flat.  _ Make My Bed _ was the easy choice and Sirius paused after dropping the needle onto the record. 

“Oh, this sounds nice in here…” Sirius said, half to themselves. It was strange to see their things in Remus’ flat, but it all fit so well.

“What a music snob.” Remus laughed from the kitchen where he was pouring them wine.

Sirius grinned to themselves. “You wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“No, and now I get all the records in here.” Remus came back out, carrying two glasses.

“Exactly. Though if I come back and find any on the floor to make space for more books, there’s gonna be problems.” Sirius met him halfway, taking one of the wine glasses with a wry smile.

“Sure, love, I’d never.” Remus grinned before taking a sip of his wine.

Sirius narrowed their eyes. “You better not. Some of those records are probably worth as much as — ” Sirius looked around for something of similar value to some of their first pressings — “I dunno, your sofa, or something. The TV? The whole damn flat?”

“Yeah, yeah, I know.” Remus scoffed with an eye roll. “We’ll just have to buy more bookshelves.”

“Correct answer,” Sirius said, bumping his hip with theirs on the way past to sit on the sofa. 

“I like all your stuff in here, Sirius.” Remus smiled at them.

Sirius settled on the sofa, sipping their wine. “Me too. It all… fits, you know?”

“It does. I’m sorry I was so… logical because I’ve really wanted you here since… well, probably since our first date if we’re being honest.” Remus took a seat next to Sirius.

“Stop apologising! I did too, though, I think. I remember not wanting to leave, I didn’t want it to end, the whole time.” Sirius brought their feet up onto the sofa, nudging them under Remus’ thigh like always.

Remus put his free hand on Sirius’ ankle. “Well, you’re here now, so…” He shrugged.

“Mhmm, I am. There’s no getting rid of me now.” Sirius grinned over the top of their wine glass.

“I’m thrilled about that.” Remus leaned over and pressed a kiss to their cheek. “Not that long until we go away!”

“Nope,” Sirius agreed, shaking their head. “I still want to practise a lot more for the comp, but I’m so excited for Tuscany, too though. It’ll be wonderful.”

“You’ll be amazing. Where’s the Gold Medal bravado?” Remus gave Sirius’ ankle a little squeeze.

Sirius chuckled. “It’s away thinking about all the inversions I’ve decided to make myself do. It’ll look good though, I’ll get it right.”

“I can’t wait to see it.”

“You know what we need here?” Sirius looked around the room, peering at the ceiling and empty spaces. “Space for a pole.”

“I’d never get anything done then. It’s bad enough you’re going to be stretching all over the place.” Remus shook his head.

“Either that or you’d just get used to me stretching and dancing everywhere…” Sirius bit their lip, looking back to Remus. “Let’s not let that happen.”

“I’ll never get used to it.” Remus snorted.

“Good. I’ll try to be more  _ considerate  _ when I’m stretching… Else I think either of us will be late for work, a  _ lot _ .” Sirius grinned, turning a little to put their head on Remus’ shoulder.

“Yeah, it’s nearly happened a few times.” Remus pressed their lips to Sirius’ neck.

“Mmm. We have anything else to do tonight?” Sirius tilted their head a little, smiling.

“Whatever you want to do.” Remus licked his lips.

Sirius quirked an eyebrow. “I did say I would owe you for this morning…”

“Yes, you do owe me for that bratty move, princess.” Remus set his wine down on the coffee table.

“I suppose. Seeing as we’re all moved in.” Sirius finished the rest of their wine and smiled at Remus, cocking their head slightly. “What do you want, caro?”

“Hmm.” Remus turned a little to look at them. “Why don’t you go get the lube and get back here and I’ll think about it?”

Sirius rolled their eyes. “You’re awful.” But they stood up and stretched their back until it cracked a little. “Do you want any more wine whilst I’m up?”

“Sure.” Remus nodded.

“ _ Sure _ , he says. No ‘thank you, princess’, how rude.” Sirius went around the sofa, pressing a kiss to the top of Remus’ head on their way to the bedroom. They wanted to do  _ something _ for Remus, but they didn’t quite know what.

“Thank you, princess,” Remus called after them.

“Correct answer!” Sirius called back, going into the dresser for the lube before going back into the living room. They took a detour via the kitchen to get the wine bottle. 

“I do have awful manners. Marly says it’s because I was raised in Wales.” Remus chuckled.

“Mm, I think it’s because you like bossing me around, actually.” Sirius stuck their tongue out, tossing Remus the lube before topping up both of their glasses.

“I think you like me bossing you around.” Remus set the lube aside. “No, let me rephrase that: I know you like me bossing you around. You’ve said so.”

Sirius grinned, setting the wine bottle down and taking a sip of their glass. “I like the look in your eyes when you tell me what to do. There’s a whole bit of you no one else gets to see. All mine.”

“Yeah, well, no one on the face of the planet can tell you what to do but me, it seems.” Remus smirked  _ that _ smirk, the one that made Sirius go all floaty.

“Yeah,” they breathed, setting their glass down. “I wouldn’t listen to anyone else but you, my love.”

“I know.” Remus watched them carefully.

Sirius smirked back as they circled around to the record player, lifting the needle back to the beginning of  _ Holy _ — the grooves of the songs were obvious enough, they’d played it so often. “Remember after our first date? We drove out to the hills listening to this.”

“Yeah.” Remus took another drink of the wine.

“I wanted to snog you senseless that whole day, you know,” Sirius said, reaching up to pull the tie out of their hair where they’d thrown it up, padding over to Remus to stand before him.

“You always want to snog me senseless.” Remus put his glass down then looked up at Sirius.

Sirius rolled their eyes. “You keep being sassy and I won’t be nice to you.” Sirius bit their lip, watching Remus as they moved their hips to the music, running one hand through their hair.

“Mmm, you like the sass.” Remus reached out to touch their leg.

“Nuh-uh, no touching,” Sirius murmured, pushing Remus’ hand away, grinning already at the look on Remus’ face before closing their eyes and just dancing to the music.

“Fine, I’ll be good.”

Sirius cracked an eye open. “No you won’t. Don’t lie. You won’t keep your hands off me, I guarantee.” They smirked down at him, trailing a hand through their hair and down their chest.

“I’ll be good for a little while.” Remus sat back, putting his hands on his lap.

“Oh sure,” Sirius murmured, stepping closer to Remus, not quite between his legs. They ran their hands back up their upper body, letting their shirt ride up a little over their stomach, revealing how low-slung their jeans were.

Remus licked his lips again, his eyes going to the strip of skin that was revealed.

Sirius pulled their shirt up a little with one hand, letting it drop again before reaching back between their shoulders to grasp the back of it and pull it off in one motion. They tossed it aside somewhere unimportant, still dancing to the music.

“You’re so fucking beautiful, Sirius. It’s unfair.” Remus had a hungry look in his eyes.

“How is it unfair?” Sirius ran their hands down their thighs. “I’m all yours, caro.”

“It’s unfair because I can’t think when you’re walking around looking like this and when I’m feeling like this.” Remus’ fingers clenched in his lap, like he wanted to reach out and touch Sirius but he was stopping himself.

Sirius tutted softly, still smirking. “My poor love.” Their fingers went to their belt buckle, undoing it slowly, relishing the hungry way Remus was watching them.

“Get your jeans off, now, Sirius and get on my lap,” Remus ordered in a low voice.

“Mmm, your manners are awful,” Sirius murmured, undoing their jeans, watching Remus with their bottom lip caught between their teeth.

“It’s the only way you listen.”

Shrugging a shoulder, Sirius pulled their jeans open, dragging their fingers and making a soft noise of pleasure at their own touch. Remus’ fingers clenched in his lap again and they couldn’t help smiling, pushing their jeans off their hips. Or else Remus would just give in and pull them onto his lap.

“There, better.” Remus slid a hand down Sirius’ chest.

“I said no touching,” Sirius said, not doing anything to stop Remus though, wiggling their hips so their jeans fell to the floor, pooling around their feet.

“Are you going to make me?” Remus raised an eyebrow as his fingers slipped under the waistband of their briefs.

Sirius stepped out of their jeans, pushing them away with a foot. Their gaze flickered down to Remus’ fingers, then back up to his face. “I should. I should not let you touch me at all...”

“You’d really hate that.” Remus’ fingers lightly grazed against the head of their cock.

“I dunno…” Sirius bit back a moan, swallowing a little. “I think we both might like it. I could hold you down and ride you into the sofa.”

“Yeah, maybe I would like that.” Remus moved his hand back up to Sirius’ chest.

Sirius grinned. “Maybe you would.” They ran their hands down Remus’ arm, trailing their nails lightly back up to his wrist, stepping closer so their legs were pressed against the sofa.

“Take off your underwear, Sirius.” Remus dropped his hand again.

“No manners again.” Sirius rolled their eyes, chuckling softly. They paused just long enough for Remus to raise an eyebrow before trailing their fingers over the waistband of their under, pulling them down slowly.

“And yet, you still listen.” Remus cleared his throat.

Sirius’ eyebrows shot up. They held their hands up, leaving their underwear halfway down their hips “Oh, would you rather I didn’t?”

“I’m just saying, maybe you should stop complaining.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t do anything until you ask  _ nicely _ .” Sirius crossed their arms over their chest, smirking.

“Did you forget that you promised that you’d make up this morning to me?” Remus shook his head.

“Mmhmm, but I didn’t say I would make it up to you  _ tonight _ .” Sirius bit their lip, smiling down at Remus as they ran their hands through their hair, arching their back a little. Their hands drifted back down to push their underwear the rest of the way off.

“Well, princess, you really don’t have good manners yourself then.” Remus scoffed.

“You already know that, Rem. I am a brat after all,” Sirius said, grinning, as they put their hands on Remus’ knees, leaning a bit closer to him.

Remus rolled his eyes then hauled Sirius on to his lap. “Didn’t we talk about how you could use lessons before because honestly, we should talk about that again one day.”

Sirius let out a laugh of surprise as they practically fell into Remus’ lap, thanking their good balance as they settled with a knee either side of his thighs. “I don’t remember that conversation at all.” 

“Something something spankings something something table.” Remus pulled them into a kiss.

Sirius kissed back, their hands going to Remus’ shoulders, then up through his hair as they slid their tongue into his mouth. Their banter always turned Sirius on like nothing else, Remus with his smirk and that tone in his voice. Sirius rocked their hips forward, pressing against Remus’ as they kissed him.

“Mmm, let’s get my clothes off then you can hold me down and ride me into the sofa,” Remus whispered against their lips.

“Oh now he wants it,” Sirius said after swallowing a moan. Their hands went to Remus’ shirt though, pulling it up, dragging their nails a little.

“Never said I didn’t want it,” Remus reminded them after his shirt was tossed aside.

Sirius rolled their eyes again but nuzzled along Remus’ jaw, nipping at the skin as they reached between them to undo Remus’ jeans. Remus raised his hips up a bit urging Sirius on. His hands were trailing up and down Sirius’ thighs. Sirius tugged open his jeans, shivering a little. “Impatient, are we?”

“If you didn’t tease me so much and didn’t start my morning like that, maybe I wouldn’t be.” He nipped at their jaw.

“You liked it. I like knowing you’ve been thinking about it all day.” Sirius tilted their head back to bare their throat to Remus, pushing his jeans and underwear down his thighs together. “I know I have.”

“All bloody day, if James and Frank weren’t around we’d still be in your flat.” Remus sucked at a sensitive spot on Sirius’ throat.

Sirius made a soft noise. “Mm, and I got to watch you showing all your expertise and lifting heavy things all day too.” They knelt up, hoping Remus would move with them because they  _ really _ didn’t want to stop his mouth on their neck but they wanted him naked too.

Remus got the hint and leaned up with Sirius, lifting his hips. “Yeah, I’m sure you liked that.” He bit at the spot. “Get yourself ready, Sirius.”

“Ah, yeah.” Sirius shuddered, patting blindly on the table for the lube for a moment before snatching it up. “Mm god I love your mouth on me.”

“I know.” Remus kissed over to another spot that he favored.

Sirius gasped again, biting their lip and trying to concentrate on not just melting into Remus when the sooner they got ready the sooner they would have him. “Shit, Rem…”

“Hurry up.” Remus laved his tongue over the bite.

“Ah…” Sirius half-wished it was Remus’ fingers easing into them but there was something ridiculous hot about Remus sitting there whilst Sirius fingered themselves for him. “God, fuck,” Sirius breathed, their other hand braced on Remus’ shoulder.

“Mmm, I can’t wait to be inside you.” Remus kissed over their clavicle, his hands trailing down to Sirius’ arse.

They were probably being a little quicker than they would usually, or Remus would, but Sirius couldn’t wait either. They arched their back a little, pressing back towards Remus’ touch, making a soft noise of frustration when they couldn’t quite reach the point they wanted. It didn’t matter, Remus would press every button Sirius had, and the ones they had no clue about. “Ah, oh god, yes please.”

“You’re ready?” Remus dug his fingers in, pulling them closer.

“Yeah,” Sirius replied quickly, removing their fingers and bracing their hands on Remus’ shoulders. “I want you in me,  _ now _ .”

“Okay.” Remus’ hands slid to their hips. “Whatever you want, Sirius.”

Sirius made a little impatient noise, reaching down to guide Remus into them, sinking down into his lap. They bit their lip, stifling a loud moan at the sensation. Remus held on tight to their hips, leaning up to kiss them fiercely. Kissing back, Sirius rocked their hips against Remus’, taking him as deep as they could. Their hands trailed down to Remus’, taking his hands and pulling them away from their hips.

Remus grinned against Sirius’ lips. “Really? No touching?”

Sirius bit Remus’ bottom lip in response, smirking as they pressed Remus’ hands against the back of the sofa, braced up by his head. They did say so, after all. “Nuh-uh.”

“Do what, ah, fuck, whatever you want.” Remus moaned.

“How--ah--kind of you,” Sirius retorted, rolling their hips, letting Remus slide almost all the way out before sinking back down onto him.

“Shit.” Remus’ head dropped back to the sofa.

Sirius grinned, using their hold on Remus’ hands to lift themselves up for every thrust. They were torn between watching the look on Remus’ face or chasing the flush on his neck with their mouth. Remus was making some wonderful noises that the neighbors were going to definitely hear as Sirius rode him.

“Ah, god you feel so good, Remus, you feel so fucking good in me.” Sirius leaned forward to nuzzle Remus’ neck, breathing hard.

“I always want to be inside you. Fucking hell.” Remus lifted his head again.

“It would, ah, get a little, in-incovenient,” Sirius hissed, pressing open-mouthed kisses over Remus’ throat, still grinding their hips again his.

“Oh fuck, yeah, but so good. Shit.” Remus moaned again.

Sirius groaned, resting their head on his shoulder for a moment as they shuddered. “Fuck…” They shifted, pulling one of Remus’ hands away from the sofa, leading it to their cock. “Touch me,” they said, their voice sounding suddenly like Remus’ when he got all impatient and bossy.

Remus grinned, wrapping his hand around them. “Fuck, yeah, Sirius. Oh god, I’m so close.”

“Don’t come ‘til I do,” Sirius choked out, moaning sharply at Remus’ touch, still rolling their hips. “God, fuck you’re so good.”

“I won’t, I won’t.” Remus was breathing hard as he moved his hand in time with Sirius’ thrusts.

Sirius groaned, arching their back, so close but they didn’t want this to end. “Oh, fuck, I could ride you all fucking night.”

“Ah, yes, god, please.” Remus twisted his wrist on the upstroke.

“Yeah, ah, just hold you down, wait until you’re ready to go again, do it all over again. Make you scream for me.” Sirius bit their lip, so so close.

“Yes, yes, we can do that. Shit.” Remus leaned up to kiss them.

Sirius gasped into the kiss, one final thrust sending them over the edge as they came, digging their nails into Remus’ hand. They kept up with their rhythm all the way through, shuddering and clenching around Remus. It didn’t take much longer for Remus to follow right behind them, bucking his hips up as he came, moaning into the kiss.


	22. Chapter 22

Remus managed to free his hand from Sirius’ grip, not that it was too difficult now that they were boneless in his lap. He rubbed his hand up and down their back, pressing small kisses to their shoulder. “Shit, Sirius,” was all Remus could manage at the moment as Sirius was still shuddering against him.

“Yeah,” Sirius mumbled back, leaning their weight into Remus a little. “Fuck.”

“Mmm, I love you.” Remus continued to kiss over this shoulder. He wanted to stay that way forever, but it probably was inconvenient as Sirius said. He also knew that he’d start to feel a bit sticky in a moment.

Sirius let out a big sigh. “What the fuck happened to the guy who couldn’t even ask for a blowjob a few months ago?” They spoke into Remus’ neck, their fingers trailing over Remus’ upper arms.

Remus laughed because he was worlds away from that man now. There really was only one good reason for what happened. “You, you happened.”

“I’m sure glad I did.” Sirius heaved a breath again. “I’ll go get a cloth, in a minute…”

“Mmm, no rush.” Remus kept rubbing their back. “So, that was a good way to christen the flat as  _ ours _ , huh?”

Sirius chuckled, finally lifting their head from Remus’ neck. “Do we have to do every room? Because I think we might need to wait ‘til tomorrow.”

“Ah, all talk with the doing this all night thing, I see,” Remus joked as he moved to press a kiss to Sirius’ lips. They looked so debauched.

Sirius pulled back to speak. “Oh, oh, now you’ve made it a thing, we’ll  _ have _ to go again. Think you can survive another round?” They grinned, kissing Remus again.

“We’ll see.” Remus smiled. “Let’s take a minute though.”

“Yeah… fuck.” Sirius managed to lift a hand to rub over their neck. “Did you give me another massive hickey agan?”

“Possibly.” Remus looked at where Sirius was rubbing.

Sirius tilted their chin back to let Remus see, smiling. “Thank god I like them.”

“I wouldn’t give them if you didn’t.” Remus’ hand slipped down to Sirius’ thigh.

“Mmm, you like doing it though, don’t you? Remember in that tea shop? You looked so proud at everyone looking.”

“Yeah, you’re mine.” Remus smirked, giving their thigh a squeeze.

Sirius smiled, one hand going to Remus’ jaw. They were looking at him so tenderly that it made Remus’ heart hurt. “You’re mine too, though, aren’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah, you are.” Remus swallowed a lump in his throat, not sure why he was feeling suddenly emotional.

“ _ You _ are, you mean.” Sirius grinned, pressing a kiss to Remus’ lips.

“Yeah, sorry… I’m…” Remus shook his head, trying to pinpoint exactly how he was feeling.

Sirius frowned a little, shifting closer and cupping Remus’ face in their hands. “Hey, you okay? It’s okay…”

Remus laughed, tears in his eyes. “Emotions, you know.”

“Yeah, it’s okay.” Sirius pressed a kiss to Remus’ forehead before resting their own forehead against his. “It’s okay.”

“I know it is.” Remus sighed as he looked into Sirius’ eyes. God, he just loved them so much.

“I love you.” Sirius’ eyes flickered over their face, still frowning a little.

“Stop frowning, it’s okay.” Remus laughed softly. “I love you too.”

“I love you, I love you.” Sirius smiled softly, their frown easing. “God, I’ve never been so in love before. I’ve never… shit. I love you.”

“I know, I know, I think that’s why I’m… why I’m all teary. I don’t know.” Remus shook his head a little.

“Yeah…” Sirius bit their lip, kissing Remus again lightly.

“Can we, I don’t know, clean up and maybe go cuddle or something?” Remus suggested.

“Yeah. Want a bath?”

Remus nodded. “Sure, want to share a brownie?” Maybe it would help him relax a little.

Sirius laughed. “That sounds like fucking heaven. You go get the brownie, I’ll set the bath running.”

“Sure.” Remus kissed them one more time.

After a moment, Sirius climbed from Remus’ lap, a little unsteady. They padded around the sofa and towards the bathroom. As Sirius disappeared down the hall, Remus rubbed a hand over his face before standing up and going towards the kitchen. It had only been six months, and Remus was sure he didn’t want to spend his life with anyone else. That seemed completely insane. He always swore that he would give it a year before even thinking about marrying someone. Why did Sirius have to do this to him?

He grabbed the brownie he had taken out earlier when he got the wine. It was still cold, but not a brick any longer. With it in hand, he headed towards the bathroom, trying to figure out how he could possibly feel this way. His mother always told him that the heart did what it wanted, and it was true it seemed. Remus was always so methodical and thought everything else. There was always a plan, but Sirius was very good at making his plans go a bit haywire.

“Okay, here we are.” Remus said as he walked into the bathroom.

Sirius was sat on the edge of the bath as it filled up, a deep purple bath bomb in the water. They looked completely rumpled, their hair haywire and their neck all blotched red and purple. “Hi.”

“Hi, gorgeous.” Remus smiled before taking a bite of the brownie.

“Shall we get in?” Sirius nodded towards the bath.

“Mmmhmm.” Remus chewed for a moment then stepped into the tub. He sat carefully, keeping his arm holding the brownie up above the water.

“Protect the brownie.” Sirius grinned, climbing in after him and sitting towards the other end, between Remus’ legs so they were facing him.

“Can you read my mind, because, honestly.” Remus took another bite before handing it to Sirius.

Sirius looked quite smug, taking the brownie and eating a corner. “I think I might. I told you your dick’s  _ that _ good.” They stretched one leg out into Remus’ lap, nudging a bit closer.

“Yeah, I know that now.” Remus held on to one of Sirius’ ankles.

“You’re  _ learning _ , caro.” Sirius leaned against the side of the bath, taking another bite of the brownie.

“You’ve said it enough.” Remus reached for the brownie, worried about Sirius eating too much… though he did love them getting the giggles.

With a pout, Sirius handed the brownie back. “Exactly.” Sirius rubbed their free hand over Remus’ leg, scratching lightly.

“I can’t wait for Italy.” Remus nudged their thigh with his toes.

“Mmhm, me neither.” Sirius grinned, running their fingers further up Remus’ calf. “Prague first. Be my cheerleader, then we can go soak up some Italian sun.”

“Of course, I’m totally looking forward to Prague. I’m hoping I’m not into sex at that moment becaue I can’t deal with watching you with that many people around when I feel this way.” Remus took another bite of the brownie.

Sirius laughed. “You get jealous, caro?”

“No, not jealous because I know that you’re coming home with me… just… I just can’t touch you when you’re up there. Not until we’re back at the airbnb.” Remus broke off a small piece of the brownie and handed it to Sirius.

“Mm, I see.” Sirius leaned forward and ate the brownie piece from his hand. They smiled softly, an expression passing over their face Remus couldn’t quite name, but they looked so content.

Remus smiled at the expression before finishing the brownie in his hand. “Plus, why would I be jealous when I know you’re head over heels for me?”

Sirius laughed, their head leaning on the side of the tub. “I am, caro, I am. Just you.”

“With the hickeys, everyone knows anyway.” Remus eyed the blossoming mark on Sirius’ pale neck.

“I haven’t even looked in the mirror,” Sirius murmured, rubbing their hand over their neck. “You’re awful.”

“You love when I’m awful. You say awful and I hear wonderful.”

Sirius bit their lip, moving forward so they were practically sat in Remus’ lap, a bit of water sloshing over the side of the tub. “So what do you hear when I say wonderful?”

“Wonderful. Amazing. All that.” Remus laughed because Sirius could never stay too far from him.

“Mmm, I see, I see.” Sirius grinned, wrapping their arms around his shoulders. “You’re so gorgeous.”

“I think you’re confusing me with yourself.” Remus pressed a quick kiss to their lips.

“I’m not  _ that _ high,” Sirius said, running their fingers through Remus’ hair. “You’re gorgeous, you’re the best garbage. I love you.”

“You’re not that high yet. Sirius, did you learn from last time?” Remus chuckled. “I’m so happy you think I’m the best garbage, I love you too.”

“I did learn, see? I’m not riling you up and then laughing my head off.” Sirius kissed him lightly. “We had fun that day though, didn’t we caro?”

“Yeah, plenty of fun.” Remus hummed into the kiss. “After we ate nearly the whole cake.”

Sirius laughed, resting their forehead against Remus’ cheek. “You and your munchies.”

“Oh, do we still have the cookies Effy gave us the other day?” Remus furrowed his brow. “I’m going to want to stuff my face with something soon enough.”

“I’ll find something. I’m sure there’s cookies.” Sirius was still sniggering a little, their hands stroking Remus’ shoulders.

“Good, good.” 

Remus tickled Sirius’ sides.

Sirius shrieked, their limbs jerking as they practically fell out of Remus’ lap. “Oi! Fuck—off! Ah! You bastard!” Sirius was laughing too much to fight him off, batting at his hands as they were howling. The water was splashing  _ everywhere _ .

Remus let up, laughing so hard that his stomach hurt. “I love your laugh and you’re so damn cute when I do that.”

“I hate you.” Sirius shoved at his hands, huffing a big sigh. “I was  _ so _ comfy.”

“You poor thing, come here and I’ll make you comfy again.” Remus smiled sweetly.

Sirius narrowed their eyes. “I don’t trust you.” They knelt forward, wrapping their arms around their stomach like it hurt from laughing too.

Remus held out his pinky. “How about we pinky promise I won’t do that again tonight?”

“Mmm… the whole of tonight. And tomorrow morning too, no waking me up with tickling.” 

“Deal.” Remus nodded.

Sirius hooked their pinky around his, bringing their hands in to kiss Remus’ knuckles. “Deal.”


	23. Chapter 23

Unsurprisingly, when Sirius emerged from the bathroom the next morning, Remus was still asleep. Sirius usually didn’t care for being an early riser, but it was worth it to see Remus all sprawled across  _ their _ bed. They had both fallen asleep in bed late that night, still high after another ridiculously good shag with Remus’ leg hiked over Sirius’ shoulder.

Sirius even felt a little sore this morning. They would have to take it easy at their first class of the morning and stretch well—once they got to the studio. Sirius had a feeling if they stretched at home in front of Remus both of them would be late. 

Dropping their towel, Sirius crossed to the dresser to pull on their clothes. Remus had worried them for a moment the previous night. He had gotten a bit unexpectedly emotional whilst they were on the sofa, and Sirius was so concerned they had done something wrong. Remus was quick to reassure them they had done nothing, but Sirius still worried. They pulled on their workout shorts before padding back to the bed. Remus should probably wake up soon for work. He’d probably turned his alarm off whilst Sirius was in the bathroom.

“Remus, my love…” Sirius put a hand on his arm, stroking softly.

“Mmm, is it really time to wake up?” Remus yawned.

“I’m afraid so caro.” Sirius leaned over, kissing the bit of Remus’ jaw that was visible under his arm and his pillow.

“Shit, why’d we stay up so late  _ and _ eat a brownie.” Remus groaned as he managed to sit up.

Sirius chuckled. “Because we were christening the new flat.”

“Right, of course.” Remus squinted at them. “Good morning.”

“Good morning gorgeous.” Sirius grinned. “You’re so cute in the morning.”

“I’m the worst in the morning. You must really love me.” Remus pressed a kiss to their lips.

Sirius rolled their eyes, kissing back. “Now you’re just fishing for compliments.” They swatted at his thigh before standing up and crossing back over to find a shirt from the drawer. They’d woken up at Remus’ flat hundreds of times, but it was different this time, with their things in the dresser and not in a bag, feeling like it was their place and not just Remus’.

“I’m not, I’m horrid, I know I am.” Remus chuckled. “You look nice, like you belong here.”

Sirius fairly melted at Remus’ words, pausing to glance over their shoulder at him, still sprawled on the bed. God they wanted to just get right back into bed with him. “It feels like it, too.”

“Good.” Remus licked his lips. “Do you have to go to work?”

“Mmm, I have to leave in like, ten minutes, and I want coffee and breakfast before I go, because my first class is early.” Sirius shrugged on their ‘Mascara & Muscles’ tank. “So, maybe five minutes of kissing?” 

“Hmm, that seems like a tease, but I’ll take it.” Remus nodded.

Sirius crossed back to the bed, climbing onto the edge. “It’s either five minutes of kissing or nothing, buster.”

Remus laughed, pulling them down to the bed. “Five minutes.”

“Five,” Sirius reaffirmed, snatching their phone from the side as they tumbled into Remus. The man wrapped his arms around their waist, kissing their cheek. “I’m setting an alarm.” Sirius unlocked their phone. “You’re insatiable right now,  _ twice _ yesterday.”

Remus kissed down to their lips as they tried to set their alarm. “I’m on that  _ I want all the sex now _ end of the scale at the moment.”

Sirius tried to kiss back whilst also setting their alarm, nipping Remus’ bottom lip. “I can tell. Give me—give me a second, else I’ll be really late.” They tapped at the alarm, setting it somewhere roughly for five minutes before throwing it down on the bed.

“What a pity that’d be.” Remus pulled Sirius even closer to him.

“Oh shush,” was all Sirius managed to get out before Remus kissed them properly. It was so hard to be sensible when Remus was like this. Sirius tried to hold onto their senses, kissing Remus back, enjoying it thoroughly when he got like this.

Remus slid his tongue into Sirius’ mouth, moaning into the kiss. His hand went up under Sirius’ shirt as he did this.

“ _ Kissing, _ Remus,” Sirius murmured, before stroking their tongue over Remus’ bottom lip. God, they wanted to just call in sick to work or something. Sirius knew Marly and the rest of the team would suffer without them but they wanted to stay here with Remus.

“Mmmhmm,” Remus replied as his hand continued to wander. He scratched his nails lightly up their back as his other hand began to slide up the back of their thigh.

Sirius shivered, tangling their hands in Remus’ bed-ruffled hair. “Are you going to manage a whole day without me?” Sirius grinned, barely able to finish the sentence before Remus kissed them again.

After a moment Remus pulled back, just slightly with a smirk. “I’ll just have a wank in the shower. I’ll hold over until tonight.”

At the thought, Sirius groaned softly. “You can text me all your lurid plans between classes.”

“Well I’ll think about it, but we need to christen each room, so we have some options.” Remus went back to kissing them with vigor, his hand on their arse now.

Sirius kissed back, not caring about their alarm and half-convincing themselves they could just stay home all day, blame it on needing to sort some more things out for moving. They shifted slightly, straddling Remus’ thighs, their hands ranging over his shoulders.

Then the alarm sounded.

Sirius broke the kiss with a groan, panting softly.

“Really?” Remus huffed. “We were getting to the good part.” He chuckled, cheeks pink.

“Yeah.” Sirius sat back, trying to catch their breath. “Tonight.”

“Tonight, right.” Remus scrubbed his hands over his face.

Leaning forward, Sirius kissed Remus’ cheek before climbing off the bed, pleased that Remus didn’t catch them and pull them back. “Go wank in the shower. Text me all the horrific things you want to do to me tonight.” Sirius grabbed their hoodie from the end of the bed, grinning. Inside they were jelly, of course, but seeing Remus like this was worth pretending they were  _ fine _ and not completely and totally desperate for him. “Have a good day at work.”

“Yeah, I’ll text you. You have a good day too. I love you and I can’t wait for tonight already,” Remus called after them.

Sirius absolutely didn’t purposefully strut out of the room, swinging their hips a little, knowing their arse looked  _ great _ in these shorts. “Bye, caro!”

They weren’t quite sure how they were going to be able to last the whole day at work, but as soon as they walked through the doors to Ascendence it was all systems go. Marlene had a million questions about the newest class intake and they and Ben were going to work together on some of the younger ballet classes before the big mid-term uptake in attendance. Sirius did a fairly good job at forgetting their need for Remus; it was sort of easy when they loved their job as much as they did. They got to let loose in the pole classes, got to teach the kids ballet, got to watch them grow and get better and better. 

Everything in life seemed to be going in the right direction. Remus’ little emotional blip the night before wasn’t worrying them so much any more. They were sure he would tell them if it was a problem—they hoped, at least. Honesty was important to them now, more than ever. So if Remus didn’t tell, it wasn’t important. Never mind the fact he was all over them this morning. Sirius was sure if they hadn’t set an alarm they wouldn’t have made it in to work until close to noon. Tearing themselves away from him was damn near impossible, but knowing Remus was probably wrapped up in lurid thoughts made it a little easier to bear.

Sirius was just catching a moment between classes when their phone went off from near the sound system. Expecting something probably filthy from Remus, they bounced over to it, unlocking the screen.

**Message from: Regulus Black**

Hi. Are you free to talk?

Sirius gaped at the screen. That was definitely  _ not _ a lurid text from Remus. They frowned a little, unsure of what to say back. It had been a long time since they had heard from Reggie. Their little brother had cut ties not long after Sirius was kicked out, when Sirius finally explained to him that they weren’t coming back. Sirius didn’t even realise Reggie still had their number.

_ Hi… I’m between classes just now. _

_ Are you okay? _

Ah, yeah… I just had a couple questions

_ Sure. _

_ Text? Or is it a phone call thing? _

Sirius didn’t even dare think about it being a face-to-face conversation. They hadn’t seen Reg in even longer.

Text is fine.

_ Okay, sure. Shoot. _

How long did you have access to the Black accounts after you left?

_ Shit, Reggie, idk.  _

_ It’s been like, twelve years… _

_ I dunno, she kicked me out of everything pretty quick. A month, tops? _

_ Why? What’s going on? _

Nothing. I’m just thinking.

_ Right. _

_ Don’t… don’t do anything stupid, Reggie. _

_ Are you okay? What are you doing these days? _

I won’t do anything stupid. Promise.

I’m all right, don’t worry.

I work for the company, of course. What about you?

Are you happy?

Sirius glanced up as the next class started to file in, biting their lip. Well now they were worried. But Reggie always had a level head, he was the smart one when Sirius just used to rush in and do without thinking.

_ Okay, good. _

_ I’m happy, really happy. Dancing for a living. Have a really great boyfriend. _

_ I’m glad you’re okay. _

_ Be careful. _

Nice. That’s great, Sirius. I’m happy for you.

I’ll be fine.

_ Thanks, kid. _

_ Want to get a drink sometime soon? _

Reggie didn’t reply all afternoon. Between classes, and even between exercises, Sirius checked their phone, but there was nothing. Their brother was like that, even when they used to talk more often, he would just disappear mid-conversation.

By the time their classes were through, Sirius had convinced themselves Regulus had been set up by their mother to try and get Sirius to talk to him for  _ something _ . It was typical of the whole family, just to want Sirius back in their clutches for some stupid reason. Probably something legal or inheritance that they wanted to swindle them out of. Well, Sirius didn’t want anything to do with them, including Regulus.

On the bus back to their flat, Sirius deleted the message conversation, not even being able to stand seeing them there under his name. James was their brother, not Regulus. It was all about actions, not blood. Remus had asked them why they never talked about the Blacks, and this was a prime example; they weren’t family, they were just people Sirius was tied to, and for some reason they still cared about Regulus, even though they were willing to bet he was just as cold and heartless as the rest of them.

Sirius kicked off their shoes by the door and threw their jacket onto the pegs. They stopped off for a glass of water in the kitchen on their way through to the bedroom. Eager for Remus to get home to distract them from a crappy day, they typed a quick text out to him.

_ That’s me home  _ 💙

**Can’t wait.**

**Be there in a bit.**

They crawled into bed, grinning at Remus’ messages. They wanted to just pick right up where they left off this morning. Biting their lip, Sirius snapped a quick picture of themselves, lying in bed with their hair all sprawled out over their shoulders.

_ Image.jpg _

_ See you soon _

😍😛😍😛😍😛😍😛😍😛

😉 

_ I am most intrigued by that tongue emoji _

_ Please tell me more _

_ Immediately _

_ I might get bored at home by myself… _

**I’ll be making good use of my tongue when I get home.**

_ Mmm I look forward to it _

**I’m down the street.**

**Be home in a few minutes.**

Grinning to themselves, Sirius pulled off their shirt and shorts, throwing them in the hamper in the corner. Then, on second thoughts, they tugged their briefs off and threw them in too. This was exactly what they needed after today. Sirius chuckled, knowing they only had a few minutes before Remus got home, as they rolled onto their front and took another quick selfie that showed a slice of their body over their shoulder, obviously naked, the curve of their arse and their feet kicked up into the air.

_ Image.jpg _

_ A few minutes? _

**Christ.**

**I can see where my tongue is going 😏**

_ Mmm yes please _

_ I’ll stay *right* here until you get back then _

_ Wouldn’t want to spoil anything _

Sirius heard the slam of the front door only a moment later and threw their phone onto the side, already laughing, their stomach already in knots of anticipation.

“You’re the biggest brat on the face of the planet,” Remus shouted from somewhere at the front of the flat.

“Be thankful I didn’t finish early and send you anything at lunchtime!” Sirius called back, staying on their front, stretching their arms out in front of them before folding them beneath their head.

“I would have been unable to get through the fucking day. Oh, Jesus.” Remus came into the room, stopping short.

Sirius glanced over their shoulder at him, grinning. “Something something your tongue?”

Remus kicked off his shoes then practically hopped onto the bed between Sirius’ legs. “Yeah, still a brat.”

“You would be disappointed if I wasn’t awful to you, I know it,” Sirius murmured, glancing to the side to see Remus’ shirt joining his shoes kicked onto the floor.

Remus kissed the small of Sirius’ back. “So disappointed, I love it.”

Sirius dropped their head into their arms, arching back into Remus’ touch, moaning softly. God, this was exactly what they needed after today. Knowing that Remus loved them, Remus  _ wanted _ them, was the best thing when Sirius had been faced with the fickleness of their blood family. It always made them feel shitty about themselves. True, even if Remus wasn’t on the  _ I want all the sex now _ end of the scale, he would’ve made them feel better about their crappy day, but seeing as he  _ was _ in the mood—his current position and Sirius’ choked off little moans into their pillow was testament to that—then this was perfect.

“Jesus, fuck.” Sirius collapsed back onto the bed some unknown amount of time later, leg slipping from Remus’ shoulder to land on the mattress with a thud.

Remus crawled next to them, still breathless. “That’s — that’s my line.”

Sirius grinned, throwing an arm over their face. “Maybe if you weren’t so breathless you could—you could say it then.”

“I’ve barely… barely come up for air in the last hour.” Remus’ toes nudged their leg.

“Mm, my poor darling.” Sirius snickered, stretching languidly. Every bit of them was sore, in the best way.

“Don’t cry for me, Argentina.” Remus laughed. “God, that was amazing.”

Sirius snorted with laughter, rolling over to bury their face in their pillow. “I’m not going to be able to use that tongue emoji ever again.” They peeked out at Remus, seeing him grinning. “Unless it’s sending something filthy to you.”

“Of course.” Remus nodded. “I can’t remember the last time I gave someone a rimjob.”

Sirius rolled onto their side to look at Remus. “Thank you?” 

“Your arse is just  _ that _ good.” Remus beamed at them.

“This is why we’re so good together!” Sirius cried, as excitedly as they could muster. “Your dick, my arse.” They grinned back at him, nudging him with their foot. “Although I like it the other way around, too.”

“I’m bi, so both.” Remus laughed again.

“Always both.” Sirius heaved themselves onto one elbow to kiss him briefly. “Greedy.”

“Very, very greedy.” Remus let out a little noise of satisfaction at the kiss.

“So rude, really.” Sirius chuckled, sitting up a little. They should probably think about dinner soon.

“Let’s be greedy!” Remus pulled them back onto their lap.

Sirius grabbed his shoulders, yelping in surprise before melting into Remus, laughing against his mouth. “Again!?”


	24. Chapter 24

The full day and day after of Sirius moving in was filled with so much sex, Remus wondered if maybe he had cracked some kind of code in his body that got him hypersexual. Even Sirius was knackered by the end of it. Of course that wasn’t true. Things returned back to normal afterwards, he was mostly uninterested but kissed Sirius while they got off a couple of times. He figured he’d never have everything figured out with his sexuality, but that was okay. Sirius didn’t mind it (they really didn’t mind it after moving in those few days).

With only two days before leaving for Prague, Remus was still turning over his feelings for Sirius in his head. It wasn’t anything bad, it was actually amazing. He wanted everything Sirius had to offer, and things were only getting better now that they moved in. Sure, they were still in some sort of honeymoon phase with the move-in, but it was so good. Remus felt like he needed to talk to someone about it, or he was going to burst. He couldn’t tell his mam about it because she’d tell him to just marry Sirius already. She was dying for Sirius to be an official part of their family. He certainly was not going to tell Dorcas because she’d tell Marlene and that would be A Big Thing. Peter and Mare would give him some weird advice involving with footy and stars. James and Lily were off the table as well because James would lose it.

Alice was the best option, as usual, because she would keep a level head, and offer decent advice. She was the only one who could actually give him something that he could use and think about. So, he asked her to lunch before leaving for the pole competition with Sirius. They met at their favorite little bistro near PureFit, and to no one’s surprise Alice was already sat at a table with two waters looking over the menu.

“Alice, sorry, am I late?”

“Hi sweetie, no, I think you’re just on time. No worries either way.” Alice smiled, pushing out the chair opposite her with her foot. “Trying to decide on a burger, like always.”

“Ah, nice. I’m going with the bacon one as usual.” He took a seat. “The real choice is sweet potato fries or onion rings.”

Alice sucked in a breath. “Indeed, the million dollar question.” She grinned, glancing over the top of her menu. “You get one, I’ll get the other. We can split?”

“Yes, I was hoping that you’d say that.” Remus took a sip of his water.

“Good. That’s settled then.” Alice put her menu down. “How have you been, sweetie?”

“Brilliant! I’m so excited to go away with Sirius.” Remus beamed over at her. “How about you?”

“Oh yeah! The championships are in… Prague, right?” Alice rested her chin on her palm. “I’m good, got another showcase this weekend. And, hush hush, but they’re looking for extras for a new musical they’re filming, Frankie and I got through to second callbacks.”

“Yeah, Prague.” Remus nodded then their eyes widened. “That’d be so cool!”

“Mmhm! Hoping we’ll hear back soon.” Alice tilted her head, grinning. “You look so happy, Moony.”

“I am.” Remus bit his lip. “Shit, I’m so happy, I don’t know what to do with myself. Who am I?”

“Where’s our Miserable Moony gone?” Alice laughed. “I don’t want him back. I like this Moony. I’ve never seen you smile like this.”

Remus felt like his face was going to be frozen at some point because he couldn’t stop the smiles at times. “I don’t know where he is, the salty bastard.”

Alice shook her head fondly. “So, Prague. A nice city break whilst you’re there?”

“Yeah, we’ll have time to look around. I’m happy to go and watch Sirius, but I’m more interested in Italy after.” Remus shrugged.

“What?” Alice set her water glass down with a thud. “You’re going to Italy after?”

Remus smiled, forgetting that he never told her about that part. It was so ridiculously romantic for them to go, he didn’t feel like sharing it with everyone. “Yeah, for three nights.”

“Shit… that’ll be lovely.”

“Very lovely…” Remus looked at a spot over her shoulder.

Alice cocked her head, catching Remus’ eye again. “Yeah?” She was too quick and observant to let Remus trailing off like that go.

“Alice… okay so the night they moved in,” Remus said then took a deep breath trying to decide how to word it.

“Mmhm,” Alice murmured before sipping her water.

“We, well, we had sex then I got insanely emotional. I don’t get emotional. It doesn’t happen.” Remus rubbed the back of his neck.

Alice put her hand over her heart, eyes going wide. “Remus Lupin, catching  _ feelings? _ ” She softened after a moment, smiling. “And?”

“I realized, I think, well, I want to marry them,” he spoke quietly. “Like… shit… like, it’s too soon. It’s been six months!”

“What?” Alice spluttered over her water for a moment, setting it down. “That’s… that’s wonderful, Moony.”

Remus groaned. “No! Not wonderful, Al, this is a disaster.”

Alice laughed so loudly the next table over gave her a look. “How is this a disaster? You’ve found your Person—” Remus could  _ hear _ the capital letter— “and you love them.”

“It’s horrible because I need to wait. I can’t ask them yet. It was hard enough for me to come to terms with them moving in.” Remus sat back, seeing the waiter coming up.

They quickly ordered before Remus looked back to Alice, who was looking thoughtful. She bit her thumbnail for a moment before setting it down. “Things have gone quickly, yeah. But you’re also head over heels for each other, obviously.”

“Yeah, obviously.” Remus shook his head. “So quickly.”

“I mean, and you’re definitely still in the honeymoon period of living together; you know, the breakfast together, sharing showers, I get to spend all my time with them I don’t even care that they leave dirty laundry everywhere and they wash up dishes the  _ wrong way _ .” Alice smiled wryly. “But that’s okay.”

“I know it’s okay, but… what am I going to do? This doesn’t stop me from wanting to ask them to marry me.” Remus groaned. Sirius did have a tendency to do the dishes wrong, but at least they didn’t leave clothes around.

“Why do you have to  _ do _ anything about it? Just… know that you want to marry them,  _ someday _ . It’s a good feeling, sit with it until you feel comfortable telling them, or asking them, rather.”

“I  _ want _ to tell them. I’ve tried to tell them everything since the Fenrir Fiasco.”

“Yeah but this will be a nice surprise if you  _ don’t _ tell them. This is the kind of thing you  _ can _ keep secret.” Alice sat back as the waiter brought out their burgers. She waited until he left before leaning over and stealing an onion ring from Remus’ place. “Unless you  _ talk _ about getting married.”

“How do you talk about it without telling them? I’m afraid I’m going to do it all wrong like I did with the moving in thing. I made a joke then it all sort of went…”

Alice didn’t answer for a moment, chewing a bite of her burger. “That’s what Frankie and I did. I think we were at someone’s wedding… was it Mare and Pete’s? I don’t remember, and Frankie leaned over and said,  _ you want that some day? _ And I just said,  _ yeah, some day.  _ Then I think I made a quip about keeping my own name, and we just sort of… both knew we were going to get married, eventually. When the time and everything came.”

Remus popped a smaller onion ring into his mouth and thought. They didn’t have any weddings coming, well Marly and Dorky but that wasn’t for a bit. How could he just bring it up casually? They needed it to be easy and  _ just happen _ because he knew that he’d manage to fuck it up somehow if not. Remus didn’t want to make it all awkward. “It was just that easy, Al? Really?”

“Mhmm. It was simple. We loved each other. I think we could both see the future. It’s fucking cliche and ridiculous, I know, but we just knew. Sometimes,” Alice said, chewing on a sweet potato fry, “you just have to trust your gut.”

“Bloody hate my gut sometimes.” Remus finally picked up his burger.

“What would Mare say? Trust your intuition, open your third eye, Remus. Feel it in your… I dunno, stomach chakra or some shit.” Alice raised an eyebrow. “What would  _ Hope _ say?”

“Nope, nope, my mother wants us to walk down the aisle yesterday.” Remus shook his head.

Alice snorted. “Hope is never wrong, Moony.”

“I feel ganged up on. Sirius and my mother  _ text _ all the time!” It was rather funny they texted often, and he did love that they got on.

“Of course they do. I bet they get on so well. How was Christmas? We never really mentioned it.”

“Right, everything’s been a bit mad, hasn’t it?” Remus sighed. Since the New Year everything had revolved around moving and getting ready. They had met up a few times since, but Christmas wasn’t a main topic with the group. “Christmas was… well, it was amazing. Sirius and my mam got on so well, so well. It was like they fit right in. I didn’t want to leave, honestly.”

‘That sounds lovely. Hope’s impossible not to get on with though. But I’m glad they fit right in, I bet that was nice to see.” Alice smiled, taking another bite of her burger.

“I overheard their conversation one morning… they… my mam brought up marriage.” Remus remembered suddenly.

Alice sat bolt-upright, interested. “Oh? What did Sirius say?”

“That they… they thought it’d be nice but it was far off and we needed to talk about it.” Remus shrugged.

“Well there you go!” Alice threw her hand up, nearly upending her drink. “They’ve thought about it too!”

Remus let out a long breath through his nose. “I still feel like we have to talk about it. Like you said.”

Alice nodded. “Right. Remus Lupin, he who is great with words, can just bring it up in conversation, of course.”

“Oh, fuck off.” Remus snorted at Alice’s snark. “You’re supposed to be the nice friend.”

“Ah yes,  _ nice _ . Let me just hide my plan of how to murder Fenrir and get away with it under this plant pot…” Alice gave him a pointed look.

“Yeah, point taken. I guess I came to you because you’ll tell me the truth, huh?”

“Exactly. Mary will be like the Oracle of Delphi and not give you a straight answer. Pete will talk about the footy, Frankie will tell you exactly what you _ want _ to hear. And that’s not even thinking about Marlene, who is probably planning a secret double wedding, and James, who, as far as I can tell, will cry about it.”

Remus laughed. “Yes, all those are right on. Dorky can’t be trusted because she’ll tell Marlene, even if she might offer okay advice. Lily would encourage the engagement I feel. This is exactly why I came to you.”

Alice put her hand over her heart. “I’m  _ honoured _ , Moony.”

“Yeah you should be. The only level headed friend I have.”

“Thanks.” Alice leaned forward. “Gimme a bit of that bacon as my payment?”

Remus glared and handed over the bacon. “Can you imagine what James will actually be like?”

“He’ll cry, I will bet on it. I reckon he’ll want to give Sirius away.” Alice grinned, munching on the bacon.

“Oh god, he’ll want to give Sirius away.” Remus made a face.

“Where would you pop the question, eventually?”

Remus had another onion ring as he thought about the question. He wasn’t sure. “Maybe somewhere that means a whole lot to us, you know? Like the place I first took them climbing.”

Alice grinned. “Oh that would be cute. You two are so adorable. I remember you texting me a few days later, after that date, and I was like ‘who the hell is this because it’s not Moony’.”

“I’m about to say something gross.” Remus cleared his throat.

Alice set down her burger and nodded solemnly. “I’m ready.”

“Sirius makes me a better person.”

“Aww.” Alice looked as if she was trying not to grin really widely. “We love you however you are, but it’s so lovely to see you happy and growing and feeling better in yourself, Moony.”

“I just never thought I could feel this way.” Remus frowned a little. Sirius brought out so much inside him, they made him so comfortable. It was almost freeing. He hated the idea of a person completing him because it felt like too much. But, Remus was complete before, it didn’t mean that he couldn’t be a better person because of Sirius.

“I’m so happy for you sweetie. Enjoy it, revel in it, please.”

“I am. I think I tried to push it away for awhile because I was afraid… afraid they’d leave or something would happen but…” Remus shook his head because he was sure that there wasn’t much that could happen that would cause them to break up.

“I don’t think that’s gonna happen. Not with the way they look at you, sweetie.”

“If I were a bit more impulsive, I’d ask them to marry me tomorrow.” Remus laughed as he reached for a sweet potato fry.

Alice laughed. “Right, how can I instill some impulsivity in you, Lupin?” She took a bite of her burger. “No. Really, I’m glad you’re not jumping in just yet. It’s a big decision, and although I’m sure it’s the  _ right _ decision, I’d feel better if you sat with it for a while.”

“Me too, plus, I want to do something really sweet for them too whenever it comes around. I don’t want it to be a spur of the moment thing.” Remus nodded.

“Of course you don’t, you giantic sap.”

He really was a big sap, there wasn’t any doubting that now.


	25. Chapter 25

The apartment they were renting in Prague was lovely, but Sirius barely even looked at it. They threw their bag down and flopped onto the bed, which was absolutely not as comfortable as their one back home.

Usually, Sirius didn’t mind travel, but the combination of the stress of the upcoming competition and the complete  _ arse _ of a security guard who clearly only singled them out because they were wearing a skirt had put them in an awful mood. They just wanted to wrap up in a big blanket and hibernate until their competition piece; either that or go and dance. There was a studio at the competition space with plenty of poles apparently, but Sirius didn’t want to go there, they wanted their own space.

“You know, we’re really close to the Astronomical Clock. It’s like a two minute walk, I want to go see that,” Remus said from somewhere in the apartment.

“Mmhmm,” Sirius muttered into their pillow.

“We could do that then grab dinner.” Remus’ voice came closer.

“Yeah. How are you so lively?” Sirius rolled onto their side, glancing around the room for Remus. All Sirius wanted to do was sleep.

“I don’t know.” Remus shrugged. “I like exploring new places and we don’t have many days here.”

Sirius heaved a sigh and sat up. “Okay, fine. Can we just catch our breath a minute first?” Sirius scooted to the edge of the bed and scraped their hair up into a bun. 

Remus sat next to them with a nod. “Yeah, that’s fine.”

“We have got a bit more time, you know. I’m only in one day of the competition, so we can sack things off to go explore when we’re not so tired.” Sirius set their head on Remus’ shoulder, running their hand up his arm. They didn’t mean to snap, everything was just frustrating today. Sirius liked to pretend they weren’t nervous about competing but they always wanted to do well.

“Sure, that sounds good. We’ll rest a bit then get dinner and then we’ll take another day to explore,” Remus agreed with them.

“Mmhm. We could always just stay here for a while, get dinner later.” Sirius pressed a kiss to Remus’ shoulder, letting out a breath through their nose.

“That’s fine.”

Sirius leaned up to kiss Remus’ cheek. “Yeah? This bed is nowhere near as good as ours though.”

“No, I was thinking maybe reading in the living room. There’s a comfy chair in there.” Remus gestured towards the door.

“Oh.” Sirius turned their head, resting their forehead against Remus’ jaw. “Sure.” That was fair. That was a pretty concrete  _ Sirius I’m not interested right now _ , and they couldn’t argue with that. Okay, maybe Sirius could just go for a shower and try to get their frustration out some other way. 

“I mean, if you’re going to take a nap or whatever, I’ll read.” Remus paused. “Or I could stay here if you want.”

“No, no you’re fine.” Sirius sighed, sitting up straight. “I’ll go shower and get myself together and then we can go for dinner, okay?”

Remus frowned with a nod. “We could cuddle if you wanted to relax. I… mean… er…”

Sirius smiled, standing up. “It’s fine, caro. I’ll go and shower, I’m just grumpy.” Sirius paused, hesitating a moment before kissing Remus’ forehead. 

Remus looked up at them with a half-smile. “I wish I could help.”

“It’s okay, Rem. Don’t worry. Give me a half hour and we’ll go out and sightsee.” Sirius squeezed his shoulder before padding off to the bathroom.

“Okay, I’ll go read.” Remus watched them walk away.

In the bathroom, Sirius leaned against the door and heaved a sigh. God fucking dammit this was not a good combination of feelings. Sirius was so wound up and frustrated by travelling and the competition and they wanted comfort from Remus but Remus wasn’t in a place to give it, not in the way Sirius needed. They couldn’t—wouldn’t—begrudge him for that, either. Sirius showered quickly, mostly to try and get the travelling grime off themselves, and gave themselves a stern look in the mirror to  _ sort their shit out _ before going back to the bedroom.

Remus was sat on the bed, reading  _ The Perfect Spy _ by le Carré, and Sirius shot him a smile as they crossed to their bags to get clean clothes. Sirius sat by their case, digging through to try and find something they wanted to wear, shoving aside their costume for the competition.

“What are you reading?” Sirius murmured, trying to make amends for their attitude.

“ _ The Perfect Spy _ .” Remus smiled, putting his bookmark back in. “It’s set in Prague.”

Sirius grinned to themselves, pulling on their clothes. “Of course it’s set in Prague.”

“Be prepared, I’m reading _ Under the Tuscan Sun _ in Italy.” Remus laughed as he stretched out on the bed.

“Isn’t that a film?” Sirius smirked. They had a feeling the movie adaptations of books getting more attention that the books themselves was a pet peeve of Remus’.

Remus looked at them in shock. “Sirius, it is both. The book is much better. I’ll read you the book out loud when I’m reading.”

“You’d make a killing, reading audio books, I bet.”

“Ha, you’d be the only one buying them,” Remus said watching Sirius tidy the small mess they made of their bag.

“I doubt it.” Sirius pulled on their jumper. “But you can read to me, when we’re by the fire in the evening.”

“I will if you want me to.” Remus patted the bed next to him. “Can we cuddle a bit?”

Sirius bit their lip, hopping up onto their toes and padding over to the bed. “Sure. I’m sorry I’m grumpy,” they mumbled, crawling onto the bed next to Remus.

“It’s fine, Sirius, that security guard was an arse.” Remus held his arms out for Sirius.

“He was, wasn’t he? That wasn’t just me being touchy?” Sirius paused a moment before snuggling into Remus’ arms, setting their head on his chest.

“No, I would have punched him if it meant not getting arrested and missing the trip.” Remus snickered, wrapping his arms around them.

“Mm, I’m glad you didn’t do that.” Sirius bit their lip. As much as they liked Remus being their knight in shining armour, that never fixed anything.

“Are you okay?”

Sirius nodded. They were nervous and het-up and in a mostly inexplicable bad mood, but they were okay. Throwing temper tantrums was just immature. “Yeah, I’m okay. Are you?”

“I’m fine, if not frustrated. It has nothing to do with you, though.” Remus huffed.

“Okay.” Sirius trailed their fingers in circles over Remus’ chest. “You can talk to me. I’m here.”

“I was just  _ hoping _ that I’d want to have sex with you all the time once we got on out little holiday here. But I’m so… ugh, I’m just repulsed by the idea right now. I have been for the last few days.”

“Yeah…” Sirius flattened their palm against his chest. “It’s okay, though. We don’t  _ need _ sex, as nice as it would be. I’m sorry I came onto you. I’m just—grumpy, obviously…”

“No, don’t be sorry. It’s fine, we’re together and you’re allowed to ask or try or drop a hint, whatever. I’d be beating myself up more if I thought you actually were upset at how I was feeling. But I know you get it now.” Remus kissed their temple.

Sirius shook their head. “I know, but I don’t want you to feel bad either. I’m a teeny bit upset because I’m not having sex with you right now but that’s just because you’re ridiculously attractive and not because I’m mad at how you’re feeling… you know?”

“That’s totally fine, that’s an okay thing to feel. I know that you’re not pressuring me. I mean there have been a time or two where you didn’t want to have sex and I did, it happens.” Remus shrugged.

“Yeah…” Sirius kissed his cheek. “Okay, come on. Let’s go sightsee.”

“Lead the way, love.”

Sightseeing, in the end, was fun. They spent the evening eating good food, then next morning they were at the convention centre for the competition. Despite their nerves, Sirius felt pretty good watching some of the other performances, and left Remus with a kiss on the cheek to go prepare for their own.

Sirius’ performance went fantastically; they pulled off the moves they were worried about and really just sank into the music. The cover of  _ Dirty Diana _ they were dancing to was so great that Sirius could just not worry about anything else. The crowd cheered and clapped and Sirius looked for Remus, sitting dead centre and smiling. He still had that same awe-struck look on his face every time he watched Sirius dance, no matter where on his scale he was. Full of nostalgia—had it only been six months ago?—Sirius shot Remus a wink as they strode off stage, grinning to themselves.

After, they couldn’t help be reminded of the first time they met Remus when he met them by the door. It wasn’t awkward that time though, when he hugged Sirius and kissed them on the cheek well done. Sirius won the gold medal, grinning ear to ear and hearing Remus in their head saying  _ the ego on you _ . They celebrated that evening with dinner at a nice restaurant, far too much good wine, crepes afterwards, and a slightly tipsy walk back to their Airbnb under the excuse of sightseeing. Sirius didn’t want to be in Prague with anyone else but Remus.

The next day at the competition, Sirius sat in the audience with Remus to watch the women’s finals. At the end of one performance the lights stayed up, though, and through the applause a man got on stage. Sirius was about to turn to Remus to ask if he reckoned this was part of the performance still when the man got down on one knee and proposed to the dancer. Naturally, everyone whooped and cheered and by the grin on her face Sirius reckoned she said yes even though they couldn’t hear what was being said.

Amongst the cheering, Sirius leaned over to Remus, smiling, and murmured, “Christ, I bet she’s real annoyed. If you proposed to me whilst I was all sweaty and tired after a pole performance, I’d say no just for the principle of the thing.”

Remus’ eyes went wide for a moment. “Right, yeah.”  
  
Sirius grinned, kissing him on the cheek before going back to cheering for the happy couple. Even if Sirius didn’t  _ know _ the girl—they were sure they’d chatted the day before at some point—they were pleased for the couple. Sirius caught themselves thinking that they wouldn’t mind that one day, so long as they weren’t sweaty and tired. They could even propose to Remus, because why the fuck not? He’d like something sappy and stupid. Maybe they could recreate their first date, go to that tapas place or the dessert place or out to the climbing spot where they watched the sun go down and talked of Tuscany. That would be nice, wouldn’t it?


	26. Chapter 26

Prague was beautiful, but Remus was dying to be in Florence the whole time. It also didn’t help that Sirius was a little edgy the whole time in Prague. He had no idea how to fix it all because it had to do with the competition. Thankfully, after Sirius’ win, their mood shifted and they had a beautiful night in the city. Remus knew they’d be amazing the whole time, but watching them perform again gave him all the same feelings he got the first time around. At least this time he didn’t make an arse out of himself after.

Now they were in Florence, and Remus was standing in the middle of their Airbnb,  _ floored _ . It was a gorgeous loft right near the Central Market. There was exposed brick and whitewashed walls and exposed beams. It was modern, but warm and not cold like some places could be. It was almost a larger version of Sirius’ old flat. The first floor had a little love seat in front of a television and fireplace. Behind that was a small kitchen with a countertop with two stools. By the windows was a small table and around the corner, the most beautiful bathroom. There was a skylight in the shower that looked up into the loft where the cosy bedroom was. Remus really liked the idea of the window looking down.

“This place is amazing.” Remus set their bags down.

Sirius was eating a gelato cone as they walked in, after insisting their first stop in Florence, even before going to the loft, would be  _ real _ gelato. “Holy shit… it’s  _ better _ than the photos?”

Remus had already finished his gelato, inhaled it really, so he had to carry their stuff. It was getting a little late, so he was ready to get to the loft. “It’s so nice, I feel like it’s not ours.” He chuckled, running his hands over the fluffy blanket on the loveseat.

“Well, not  _ technically _ .” Sirius grinned. They were in a better mood after the competition. “But it’s ours for three days.”

“Oh, whos being pedantic now?” Remus raised an eyebrow.

Sirius blinked innocently. “You’re clearly rubbing off on me.”

“Let’s go look at the bed, we need to make sure that it’s up to snuff.” Remus made a move for the stairs.

Sirius followed him, polishing off their gelato cone and grabbing the other bag. “Duh, it has to meet the exacting standards of the King of Sleep, of course.”

“Ah, yes, we need to make sure I can sleep all day in it.” Remus chuckled as he climbed the stairs. “Ah, it looks good.” He grinned when he got to the top of the stairs to find the crisp white bed.

“Of course, of course.” Sirius set their bag down, took a deep breath and jumped on the bed, flopping down on their back. After a peal of laughter they grinned at Remus. “It’s good.”

Remus sprawled out next to them. “Oh yes, very good, stamp of approval, I’d say.”

“Will this do, my liege?” Sirius said in a very grand voice.

“Yes, this will do.” Remus pulled Sirius closer to him.

Sirius tucked themselves against Remus’ side, smiling. “I’m glad we decided to come here already.”

“Me too. I wanted to come here our first date… second date, whatever it was.” Remus kissed their temple.

“Right?” Sirius chuckled. “I remember thinking  _ if he asked me to go to Tuscany with him tomorrow, I’d say yes. _ ”

“God, I wanted to run away at that very moment with you. I honestly hate the idea of other halves because I don’t need another person to be whole, but you’re like… I don’t know, my match or something.” Remus sighed. “Look at me, swooning.”

“My Austen heroine,” Sirius said, rolling onto their back and stretching out. “You know, I read a scientific explanation of soulmates once. Something about your atoms being near each other at the Big Bang and that’s why you find your way back to each other.” Sirius bit their lip, glancing at Remus. “Cute, isn’t it?”

“Yeah, yeah, very cute.” Remus leaned back over to press a kiss to their lips.

Sirius chuckled into the kiss, one hand coming up to cup Remus’ cheek.

“Are you saying you’re my soulmate?” Remus asked them, feeling so utterly in love it nearly hurt.

“Mmm, I think I could be.” Sirius shrugged a shoulder, pecking Remus’ lips again.

“Me too.” Remus fell back into the pillows. “What do you want to do tomorrow?”

“We could go out to the hills. I’m sure I saw a good place to climb on Instagram the other day. Balance out all the pole of the last few days. I bet your fingers are itching.” Sirius smiled, propping themselves up on their elbow to look at Remus.

“They are.” Remus smiled at his partner. “I really want to go up to Fiesole though. Maybe tomorrow we can go up there, and then the next day we can climb.”

“Okay, okay. You can show me the amphitheatre you talked about on our first date. And tonight I want to see if I can find this amazing restaurant, if it’s still here.”

“Yeah, that sounds good.” Remus nodded.

They got out of the comfortable bed, and went for a walk to find the restaurant that Sirius had talked about. It was amazing and everything they had told Remus. They ate far too much and shared a bottle of wine, before going back to the flat with some pastry and some more wine. Remus was so content, he felt like he was on another planet.

Back in the loft, Remus went to open the wine after finding the bottle opener. Sirius was poking around the loft, being nosey as they did. “Find anything good, love?” Remus asked as they poured the wine out.

There was a bit of a clatter before Sirius answered. “Yeah! There’s a guestbook. We should leave something nice.” A pause, and another clatter. Sirius was fairly tipsy after wine and limoncello at dinner, Remus reckoned. “Oh! The people who own this place have a big villa out near Arezzo. It’s beautiful.”

“That’s neat. Where are you? Bring it over to the sofa,” Remus called out.

Sirius appeared around the corner from near the front door, clutching the guest book and a handful of brochures. “We could come on a big group holiday somewhere like that, all of us.” They sat on the sofa with a huff, stretching their legs out.

Remus handed Sirius the wine after the dropped the brochures and guest book between them. “That’d be nice.”

“Right?” Sirius picked up one brochure and held it out to Remus. “Look, it’s gorgeous, look at that view!”

He took the brochure that Sirius was waving in his face with a laugh. Tipsy Sirius was great. “Okay, let me see.” Remus took it from them to find that it was a wedding brochure.  _ Jesus. _ It was beautiful and Remus could instantly imagine him and Sirius sitting at the head of the long table in the villa’s garden surrounded by friends and family. “Oh.”

“Gorgeous, isn’t it?” Sirius was reading the back of the wine bottle, very intently.

“Yeah, wow.” Remus could hear Alice in his head telling Remus to bring up marriage. They were both tipsy though. This was the second time he was given an opening on their trip so far, but the first time was at the pole competition and it was so loud. “We should…”  _ we should get married there _ . “We should do that one day.”

Sirius was grinning, still looking at the wine bottle. “Yeah? Do you think Marly and Dorky are going to have a destination wedding?” They set the bottle down and leaned against Remus’ side.

“I’m shocked Marly hasn’t told you all about it yet.” Remus swallowed hard. “I’m not sure about them doing a destination wedding.”

“She’s keeping it secret, I think. Wants a big surprise, no one to spoil her big day.” Sirius sipped their wine. “What about us, d’you think we’d have a destination wedding?” After a moment, they sat bolt-upright and turned to look at Remus. “Fuck, is that what you meant?”

“What? What I meant when?” Remus blinked a few times.

“ _ We should do that one day. _ ” Sirius’ drunken impression of Remus was spot on, but Remus didn’t have time to think about that. “When we get married. At a villa in Tuscany somewhere, like them,” they said, jabbing a finger at the brochure where the happy couple were gathered around with their friends at a big table.

Remus opened and closed his mouth a few times. Oh, this was not how he wanted to do this. “Well… I — you…. You said about how we should get a group together and do the villa. Right. I…”

Sirius grinned, biting their lip. “I would like to get married at a villa. All our friends and family around. Sunshine, good food, good wine.”

“You would? Yeah? You like… the idea?”

“Mhmm.” Sirius drank more of their wine, glancing down at the glass with an almost  _ shy _ smile on their face.

“Me too.” Remus nodded before drinking more of his wine.

“Yeah?” Sirius glanced up through the tendrils of their hair that had fallen out of the ponytail it was in.

“Yeah, someday, yeah.” He set his wine glass down because his hands were sweating. Wasn’t this supposed to be easy? Didn’t Alice say it was meant to be easy?

“Someday. It would be nice, wouldn’t it?” Sirius caught Remus’ hand before he could put it back in his lap, lacing their fingers. Sirius’ thumb rubbed at the base of Remus’ fingers, where a ring would sit.

“Really nice, yeah.” Remus leaned forward to kiss them.

The rest of the night was spent on the sofa drinking wine and snogging in front of the fire. Somehow they made it back up to the loft to sleep. They woke up the next morning and Sirius had a headache from all the wine, so Remus made them coffee and they ate the pastries they had got the night before for breakfast. Eventually Sirius was able to get out of bed and shower. Remus couldn’t help but waving to them through the skylight. If he was feeling interested, that view really could have been dangerous. Or wonderful.

They made their way out to Fiesole by bus and Remus led them to the amphitheater where he had lost his breath the last time. “It’s beautiful,” Remus said as they walked up the path. “Don’t say anything, just look.”

“Okay, okay,” Sirius said, grinning as they swung their joined hands between them. “I missed Italy, so much.”

“Me too.” Remus bumped their shoulders. He was feeling giddy from their conversation the night before. It had been stressful and terrifying when it happened, but knowing Sirius wanted that, and kind of talking about it, was exciting. “Here we are.”

“I’m glad we’re he—oh…” Sirius dropped his hand, walking through the rest of the archway. After a moment, they stepped to the side a little and pushed their sunglasses up onto the top of their head. “Wow…”

Remus didn’t look out, he was looking at Sirius instead. They were staring out over the amphitheater, and out past it to the rolling Tuscan hills. “Beautiful, right?” He asked softly.

“Yeah…” Sirius bit their lip, their eyes flickering all over the view. 

“I told you.” Remus looked out of the horizon. “Do you want to see if someone will take a picture of us in front of this view?”

Sirius smiled, turning to Remus a little. “Yeah, let’s. Practise your Italian and ask them over there.”

“My Italian is shit, love, you have to do it.” He nudged them. “I might insult them somehow.”

“Oh god, okay okay.” Sirius put their hand on Remus’ arm as they moved past him over to the two people stood just inside the building. Remus heard them talking and caught maybe a word or two of Italian, and saw a lot of hand gestures.

Remus grinned as the woman and Sirius made their way back over. She was now holding Sirius’ phone and smiling. He loved this spot, and was so happy to share it with Sirius and now to have their picture in front of it was going to be a nice memory. “All right?” He asked them as Sirius came to stand next to him.

“Mmhmm.” Sirius put their arm around Remus’ waist. “And Syrianna here recommended a really great cafe with the best pastries just around the corner, too.” They squeezed their arm around his waist for a moment before turning to the woman, smiling.

“Wonderful,” Remus said before looking back to the woman.

She took a handful of photos for them, and Sirius retrieved their phone with another smile and a burst of Italian that Remus followed a little more now. He at least heard  _ thank you _ . Sirius sighed happily as they watched her make her way back to her group before turning to look at Remus.

“Should we go to that cafe?” Remus took their hand again.

“Yeah, let’s. She said it had the most amazing view.” Sirius brought Remus’ hand up to kiss the back of it.

“Lead on then, love.” Remus nudged them before Sirius started to walk them out of the amphitheater. They were quiet as they walked through the small square, just enjoying each other’s company and the little village on the hill. They both stopped though when the church bells rang out through the square. “What’s going on?” Remus look towards the church because it wasn’t on the hour.

Sirius stepped to the side, looking up at the church too. “Is it a service?” There was a crowd outside the church too, looking lively and chattering away in what looked to be their fanciest outfits.

Just as Remus was about to reply the church doors opened, and a bride and groom stepped out beaming from ear to ear. Remus laughed because it felt like he was being assaulted by weddings. In a good way. He wanted it so bad, it was like it was following them. Maybe it was so sign. “Oh, a wedding.” Remus squeezed their hand.

“Oh! They look so happy,” Sirius said, beaming. They joined in the clapping as the bride and groom were showered with confetti and rice.

“Yeah, really happy.” Remus looked from the couple to Sirius. He could just ask them, couldn’t he? They didn’t have to get married tomorrow.

Sirius paused clapping for a moment to put their fingers to their lips and whistle, joining in with the rest of the cheering in the crowd as the bride and groom got in what looked like a little vintage sports car. They were grinning, holding Remus’ hand still, clapping along.

“Sirius…” Remus turned to them, feeling suddenly a bit impulsive.

“Yeah?” Sirius tore their eyes away from the car, already pulling out of the square and out into the hills. They looked at him for a moment before their expression changed a little, their smile fading just a bit.

“Do you… would you…”

Sirius’ eyes widened just a fraction and Remus was vaguely glad their sunglasses were still on the top of their head.

“Would you—”

Just as he was about to get the nerve the bells let out a new peel of noise. “Would you like to share something at the café for lunch? We probably can’t live on pastries, right?” He asked quickly, trying to cover up whatever he was feeling. This was just too bloody romantic. He couldn’t be this impulsive. It had just been six months for them.

“Ah… sure.” Sirius’ smile returned and they squeezed Remus’ hand. “Thought we were going to live on sweet things the whole time for a while there.”  
  
“I’d love to, but I’m afraid we’ll slip into a coma from too much sugar. Don’t worry, we’ll get something else afterwards.” Remus nodded as they started to walk again.  _ Jesus Christ _ , what was he thinking?


	27. Chapter 27

What the  _ actual _ fuck?

That was all that had been going around Sirius’ brain for the last twenty-four hours or so. Ever since they were in the church square, watching the wedding goers, that phrase had been going around Sirius’ head on repeat. For a wild moment, Sirius had thought Remus was going to  _ propose _ . And the scariest thing? They probably would’ve said  _ yes _ . Who thinks that’s a good idea after six months of knowing a guy? Sirius, apparently.

True, they loved Remus more than they’d ever loved anyone before, and if there was a person Sirius could see themselves marrying, it was Remus. It was just  _ so _ soon. Sirius had a vague memory of talking about it in the loft in Florence, over a bottle of wine, but the way they’d talked, it had sounded like it was years off. That wouldn’t be a bad thing either though. Sirius didn’t know  _ what _ to think. 

All through the rest of that day, dinner in some market square up in the hills and a tipsy bus ride back to Florence, Sirius had looked at Remus and thought, well, thought  _ what the fuck? _ How had they gone from some awful meeting and a fumbled job of flirting to this; six months later, to waking up in Tuscany together, Sirius thinking  _ it’s him, for the rest of my life, and that’s okay. _

They got up early that morning and caught the first bus out to the countryside, to a gorge where Remus had heard there were some good climbing routes. Remus dozed a little on their shoulder during the bus journey and Sirius nudged him awake at a stop in a tiny village. The walk out to the gorge took a while, but it was a nice walk with the most gorgeous countryside. Remus held Sirius’ hand whilst they walked and they hopped over little creeks together and strode up through the hills.

Now, Sirius was in arguably one of their favourite places; in the Tuscan sunshine, with the morning still coming awake, watching Remus climb. They were pretty sure it wouldn’t ever get better than this.

“Are you having fun, caro?” Sirius called up to Remus, certainly having fun themselves watching him.

Remus turned around, hanging from the rocks by his fingertips. “So much fun! It’s beautiful up here.”

Sirius shook their head. “Be careful! Please don’t fall, I’ll need to google the Italian for ambulance… and idiot.”

“Funny!” Remus shouted down as he reached for a new handhold.

“I’m hilarious and you love me.” Sirius grinned to themselves, stretching out onto the patch of grass they’d settled on. Remus was using his new chalk bag too, the one Sirius got him for Christmas, and that made their heart soar, even though it was a little stupid. Remus’ shirt being off was, of course, adding to Sirius’ current satisfaction. Even if Remus was still a little put-off sex right now, Sirius liked  _ looking _ , because Remus was gorgeous to look at, and off the charts entirely when he was climbing. 

Especially since it had been a while since Remus climbed, he was clearly itching for it. He was like a kid at Christmas the whole walk up, and nearly squealed in excitement when the whole gorge was empty that early in the morning. Sirius was only half paying attention to the crossword book on the grass in front of them, end of the pen at the corner of their mouth. Remus had missed climbing but Sirius had missed him climbing too. Seeing him so confident and in his element was so enthralling to Sirius, right from that first (second) date when all they’d wanted to do was kiss the living daylights out of him, the effect hadn’t lessened one bit.

At one point, Remus pushed himself up to grab a handhold and Sirius nearly outright groaned at the way the muscles in his shoulders and back shifted with the movement. Sirius rolled their eyes at their own ridiculousness for only a moment before they wolf-whistled, laughing when it echoed through the gorge.

“You enjoying the view?” Remus asked after hauling himself up to sit on the end of the cliff.

“Duh,” Sirius called back, tapping their pen on the crossword book. “Haven’t got a single word in my crossword right.”

“I figured.” Remus smirked at them.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. Oh, they knew that smirk. But no, Sirius refused to get arrested in Italy for indecent exposure. They cleared their throat and clapped their hands. “Oi, less smirking, more climbing, buddy. I’m trying to enjoy the view here.”

“Okay. Want me to come down and we can head back to the loft?”

“Do you want to head back already?” Sirius was a little torn. They wanted to watch Remus climbing, but if Remus was in the mood for sex then they wanted to get the hell back to the loft too.

“We’ve been out here for a bit… unless if you want to climb?” Remus raised an eyebrow.

Sirius hummed, biting the end of their pen. “I think this is a little too out of my depth, honestly.”

“Okay, I’ll come down and we can go.” Remus moved to ease himself down.

“Sure.” Sirius watched him for a moment, unable to look away, before throwing their book into their bag, along with the remnants of the pastries they’d brought out for breakfast. “Take your time, caro. There’s no rush.”

“I will.” Remus looked down at his feet then started to carefully, but swiftly, pick his way down.

Sirius shook their head, leaning on their elbows to watch him. “You’re ridiculous.”

“You love it.” Remus was already half-way down.

“Mmhm, I really do.” Sirius grinned to themselves, watching him. Really, Remus in just shorts and climbing shoes was such a treat. Just a little bit breathless and a little bit sweaty. Sirius shook themselves out of it, throwing the rest of their things into their bag.

Remus was back on the ground by the time Sirius had finished putting everything away. He was breathing hard as he reached for his discarded shirt. “That was a good climb.”

Sirius crossed over to him, smiling. They half wished there was a reasonable excuse for them to grab Remus’ shirt and refuse to give it back to him. But sadly not. They doubted the people on the bus back would like it. “Yeah? You have fun?” 

“So much, it was great.” Remus pulled his shirt on. “Let’s get back to the loft.”

“Boo.” Sirius stuck their tongue out at Remus pulling his shirt on, plucking at the hem. “Ruin my whole day.”

Remus laughed before hauling Sirius over by the front of their shirt. “I’ll take it off as soon as we get back.”

Sirius threw their arms around Remus’ waist, laughing. “Oh yeah?” They grinned, kissing Remus’ jaw.

“Promise.” Remus hummed. “Let’s go.”

“Mm, good.” Sirius pressed another kiss to the underside of Remus’ jaw, scraping their teeth a little. Going was all well and good but it meant not kissing Remus and Remus was very, very kissable like this.

“Hmm, if we don’t go now, there’s going to be an issue.”

Sirius snickered. “I’m not getting arrested.”

“Exactly, princess.”

“As fun as it would be…” Sirius stepped away, tugging Remus down towards the path by the front of his shirt.

Remus laughed as he followed Sirius along. The whole walk back to the village Sirius had their hand in the back pocket of Remus’ shorts, tucked up against him as they meandered down the path. They had to wait a while for the bus, Sirius had a suspicion that they’d just missed one, judging by the complicated looking timetable, but they found a place to buy gelato in the village and sat at the bus stop quite happily until the old bus rumbled up. Sirius was definitely attempting to be  _ good _ the whole ride back though, and didn’t sit with their hand a little too high up Remus’ leg or kiss his neck under the pretense of cuddling and napping.

Regardless of Sirius playing nice, Remus practically pulled them off the bus back in Florence. Sirius dug their heels in outside their favourite gelato shop though.

“Oh oh, can we get some, please?”

“Did we switch places? Are you me?” Remus raised an eyebrow.

“Clearly. It’s like Freaky Friday.” Sirius wriggled out from Remus’ grip and joined the short queue in the gelato place.

Remus stood next to them then leaned closer. “I can’t believe you want gelato more than you want me shirtless. We must be past the honeymoon phase.” Remus chuckled.

Sirius hoped their expression looked as scandalised as they felt. “Remus, how can you say such a thing?” They bit their lip, glancing up at the menu board. “Surely we can do gelato  _ and _ you shirtless?”

“Very true.” Remus kissed their cheek.

_ Oh _ . Sirius hadn’t expected that answer. Okay, back to the loft, as soon as possible. Sirius got to counter and ordered; mango gelato for them, because you couldn’t beat simplicity, and a ridiculously sweet combination of chocolate, sea salt caramel and mascarpone for Remus. 

“Back to the loft?” Sirius said softly as they turned around and held Remus’ tub out to him.

“Yes!” Remus grinned, grabbing the gelato.

“Sweet things really are the way to your heart, aren’t they?” Sirius grinned, walking close alongside Remus as they ate.

“You knew that already.” Remus winked at them. “Mmm, so good.”

“I suppose I did.” They nudged Remus with their elbow. “No this-is-so-good sex noises in public.”

“Yep, mmm.” Remus made the noise, sucking on the little plastic spoon.

Sirius rolled their eyes. “And you say  _ I’m _ awful.”

“I’m just really enjoying this.” Remus shrugged as they came up to the building they were staying in.

“Of course, of course.” Sirius dug the keys from their bag and led the way up to the loft, still eating their gelato and grinning ear to ear.

“I’m being innocent.” Remus was behind them as they climbed the stairs up.

“Remus Lupin, I don’t think you’ve been innocent a day in your life, you little git.” Sirius smiled over their shoulder as they got to the loft, setting their bag on the table.

“You know, there’s a lot of people that wouldn’t believe you.” Remus scraped the spoon around the tub.

“Mmhm, you’ve got them all fooled. I’m the only one who can see through this angelic exterior.” Sirius turned and tapped a finger on Remus’ chest.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Remus grinned, tossing the tub in the garbage.

“See, angelic exterior. But I know. I  _ know _ .” Sirius dug their spoon into their own gelato, popping it in their mouth.

Remus smirked and reached for the hem of his shirt. “I’m taking a shower, rather sweaty from all the climbing.” He lifted the hem over his head then tossed the t-shirt in Sirius’ direction.

“Oi!” Sirius yelped, ducking out of the way of Remus’ shirt. “I am trying to eat gelato here, Remus. Not being assaulted by your sweaty shirts.” They tilted their head a little. “Although, if a sweaty shirt is all I have to suffer for then…”

“Mmm, enjoy your gelato, I’ll be in the shower.” Remus shimmied out of his shorts before ducking into the bathroom.

Sirius had to pick their jaw up off the floor. It never failed to catch them off guard when Remus was like this. Fine, they thought, eating their gelato for a moment before setting it down and shrugging off their own shirt, two could play at that game. They left their own shorts on the stairs up to the bedroom and turned the air conditioning up a little. It was surprisingly warm for February, but Sirius wasn’t complaining. They were halfway across the bedroom before they spotted the skylight that was above the shower. Really, whoever designed this place was obviously a huge voyeur. Sirius wasn’t complaining about that either.

As they looked over in the direction of the skylight they heard the distinct sound of Remus’ moan. Eyes wide, Sirius crossed to the skylight and sat down next to it, leaning over to peer in, never feeling more voyeuristic. But Remus had pulled a stupid face at them through it that same morning, so he  _ knew _ it was there.

This time, Remus wasn’t pulling a dumb face. His head was tipped back slightly as one of his strong hands stroked himself.

Sirius bit their lip, feeling their own body stir in reaction. After a moment, they reached out to tap the glass, half-offended Remus had gotten started without them. “Want some help with that?”

Remus opened his eyes and smirked at them then twisted his hand up, letting out another low moan.

Sirius scoffed in disbelief, sitting there for a split second before shaking their head and practically throwing themselves back down the steps to the lower floor. They didn’t even bother knocking on the bathroom door before shoving it open. “You! Are a fucking dick, Remus,” they said, stripping off their briefs. 

“Stop and get your arse in here.” Remus laughed with the biggest smile.

Sirius didn’t need any further invitation. They kicked their briefs away and yanked open the shower door, stepping in. They shut the door with one hand and wrapped their other around the back of Remus’ neck to pull him in for a fierce kiss.

Remus hummed into the kiss, backing Sirius up against the wall. One of his hands went into their hair, the other to their hip. Sirius arched against him, biting Remus’ bottom lip in retaliation. They ran their hands down Remus’ back to his arse, digging their fingers in a little.

After crowding Sirius against the white title, Remus ground their hips against Sirius, his erection brushing against their hip. Sirius moaned into the kiss, one hand going to Remus’ thigh, the other grazing a thumb over Remus’ entrance. He pressed his hips back into the touch, continuing to kiss Sirius.

“We should get upstairs,” Sirius murmured into Remus’ mouth, pressing gently against him.

“Mmmhmm.” Remus didn’t stop kissing Sirius or moving his hips.

Sirius trailed their mouth over Remus’ jaw, wet from the shower spray. “I’m not fucking you in the shower, caro.”

“Fine.” Remus huffed, pulling away.

“Grumpy,” Sirius teased, following him forward. “If you want to go all the way upstairs, soaking wet, to get the lube, and come  _ back _ downstairs here, then be my guest.”

Remus considered for a moment, his brow slightly furrowed. “Fine. Why didn’t you bring the lube with you?”

Sirius grinned. “Oh I don’t know, maybe I was slightly distracted by my boyfriend wanking in the shower without me.” They reached down, curling their fingers around Remus. “Starting without me.”

Remus’ head tipped back a bit. “Shit, okay, come on, let’s go before I die or something dramatic you’d say.”

“You won’t  _ die _ .” Sirius did their best impression of Remus, still stroking over him.

“We really did switch, fuck, switch places huh?” Remus moaned again.

Sirius gasped, grinning as they twisted their wrist. “Oh my god, Remus, it’s like we’re  _ switches _ .”

“Ahh,” Remus laughed through a groan. “Shocking. It’s like I go both ways.”

“Shocking.” Sirius chuckled, letting Remus go. “Go on then. I’m staying in the warm, you can go and get it.”

“Oh you…” Remus trailed off with a glare. “Is this how it feels?”

Sirius smiled, smug. “Yep.” They gave Remus a hot once-over before stepping under the shower stream.

“Bastard.” Remus muttered before opening the shower door. He wiped his feet on the rug as he grabbed a towel. “I hope I don’t slip and die. Look, I’m staying dramatic. What has Italy done to us?”

“You love me!” Sirius grinned, tipping their chin up to the shower head. “Hurry back, my love, I’m desperate to be inside you already.”

Remus let out a frustrated noise as he left the bathroom, walking carefully. Sirius laughed to themselves, enjoying the hot water and the idea of Remus grumbling all the way up the stairs. Not long later, Remus came back into the room with the lube in his hand. “I didn’t die.” He dropped the towel.

“Good job, caro,” Sirius practically cooed, grinning.

“Shut up and just fuck me already.” Remus opened the shower door. He handed Sirius the lube before shutting the door again.

Sirius tried their best to stifle their laughter for a moment, before stepping up and kissing Remus. Remus kissed them back, tongue teasing against theirs. Sirius melted into him for a moment, humming into the kiss as their bodies pressed together. They pressed Remus back out of the spray a little, still kissing him as they opened the lube.

“Mmm, Sirius, how do you want me?” Remus arched into them, hands slipping down their back.

“Like this,” Sirius said, reaching between Remus’ legs to press a finger over him. “Don’t worry caro, I can manhandle you where I want you later. You just kiss me some more.”

Remus complied, nipping at Sirius’ bottom lip before running his tongue over it. He gave a little gasp as Sirius’ finger pressed into him.

Sirius eased their finger in and out, groaning softly. “You feel so good caro.”

“Oh god,” Remus mumbled against Sirius’ jaw then continued to kiss over it.

Sirius grinned into Remus temple, crooking their finger, easing another into him. The first time they had done this Sirius had been so worried about making sure Remus wanted it, but now they knew him better. They knew Remus wanted it as much as they did.

“More, Sirius more.” Remus rocked his hips against Sirius again, his hands gripping their arse.

“You’re so impatient, Rem,” Sirius whispered, letting Remus push against them, teasing him with the tip of a third finger.

Remus choked a moan as the third finger joined the others. “Shit.”

“Mm I love when you get all foul-mouthed.” Sirius raked their teeth over Remus’ earlobe, twisting their fingers.

Remus held on tight to Sirius, head falling back a little. “Fucking hell, I know. Ah, I want your cock in me, Sirius.”

“Still no manners, caro.” Sirius pressed their fingers a fraction deeper before pulling them out.

“Never.” Remus captured Sirius’ lips with his again.

Sirius smiled into the kiss, groaning softly at the tone of Remus’ voice, pressing against him. Their tongue stroked across his bottom lip into his mouth.

“Fuck me, Sirius, come on.” Remus pulled back a fraction.

“Turn around then,” Sirius murmured, tapping the side of his thigh. Remus listened, turning towards the wall. Sirius tilted their head, admiring the light from the skylight over Remus’ wet body. “Mm, you’re so gorgeous,” they said, stroking a hand over themselves as they stepped up to Remus, pressing against him.

Remus rocked his hips back against Sirius, urging them on. “ _ Please _ , Sirius.”

Sirius couldn’t resist that. They pressed their hips forward, sliding into Remus in one long stroke. They moaned sharply at the tight heat of Remus around them, kissing along his spine.

“Ah, shit, you feel so good.” Remus grabbed at Sirius’ hand. Sirius linked their fingers, bringing them up to brace against the tiles as they pulled back, thrusting forward again sharply, moaning.

“God you’re so fucking tight.”

Remus’ only response was a long moan.

Sirius would’ve chuckled at the fact they’d reduced Remus to incoherence if they weren’t so caught up in the feeling of him, setting a steady pace of fucking Remus just as he’d asked, or rather,  _ told.  _ Remus couldn’t do much more than meet Sirius’ thrust with his hips or the most delicious noises, it seemed. Sirius’ eyes fluttered shut as they mouthed to the nape of Remus’ neck to scrape their teeth lightly over the skin there. “Mm, I love all the sounds you make when I’m inside you, caro.”

“You’re so… fuck, you just feel so good.” Remus leaned his forehead against the tile.

“Yeah, god, Remus. Touch yourself, caro.”

Remus dropped one of his hands from the wall and wrapped it around his cock. “Shit, I’m going to — going to come soon.”

“Come then,” Sirius moaned, thrusting faster, so close.

“Yes, shit, fu— shit, Sirius.” Remus shuddered, fingers tightening around Sirius’ where they were linked.

“God, fuck. I can feel you, fuck.” Sirius’ hand on Remus’ hip slid around to cover his hand, stroking with him.

Remus clenched around them, throwing his head back as he came. “Oh my — shit, oh god.”

“Ah, fuckin—“ Sirius pressed their forehead against Remus’ shoulder, their thrusts turning erratic as they hovered on the edge; Remus felt  _ so _ good around them.

“Come in me, Sirius, come on,” Remus panted.

Sirius moaned sharply, gripping onto Remus’ hand as they came, thrusting a handful of times before they sank against him, breathless.  
  
“Should we—should we  _ actually  _ shower now?” Sirius managed, hand stroking over Remus’ hip.


	28. Chapter 28

Remus was completely sated and felt a bit like jelly as he and Sirius walked through the airport. He couldn’t wait to get back to their flat and slip into their normal lives again. That’s not to say their trip was horrible, quite the contrary, it was amazing. Sure, Prague was a little tense at first but it only went up from there. Florence was perfect, and everything that Remus wanted it to be.

The first few days or so, he wasn’t much interested in sex, then the last two days, they barely left the loft. They had a wonderful view of Florence from their bed, though. It was the exact type of holiday that Remus thought he would have with his partner. It also was filled with thoughts about marriage. He almost asked them to marry him for god's sake. That was just mad. Though he was insanely happy about it. The idea was tempting, and he wanted to go through with it at some point. It could wait for now though.

“I’m so happy we took tomorrow off too. I hate getting back to work after traveling. Ugh.” Remus yawned as he grabbed his bag off the belt.

Sirius already has theirs, leaning on the handle. “Me too. Can we just go home and sleep?”

“Yes, sleep all night then all day,” Remus took their hand and led them towards the exit. “I’m not complaining though because it’s a good tired.”

“Yeah, that no sleep in the past 36 hours because you’ve been too busy fucking kinda tired.” Sirius grinned despite their obvious tiredness, and probably said that a little too loudly for the airport arrivals.

Remus blushed because he was worried someone may have heard Sirius. “Oh my god, Sirius.”

“I’m your god? How kind.” Sirius nudged his hip with theirs, still grinning. The old lady they just walked past probably heard Sirius, judging by the look on her face, but Remus’ partner didn’t seem to care at all.

“No, you’re a brat,” Remus muttered. Though if you asked Remus the same question about 20 hours ago, he may have said  _ yes, Sirius, you are my god _ because of how damn good it all was.

Sirius squeezed Remus’ hand, smiling. “I had a good time, Rem.”

“I had the best time, love, the absolute best.” Remus squeezed their hand back as they got to the carpark. “Do you remember where we parked?” Remus laughed.

“Shit.” Sirius stopped and peered around. “Er… this is a problem.” They snickered, glancing back to Remus. “I’ve had to make room in my memory for this whole trip so the location of the car was obviously deemed unimportant.”

“Oh, okay, fucking Sherlock.” Remus laughed, looking around. “It’s a bright yellow thing, and somewhat large. It shouldn’t be so hard.”

“Click the thing,” Sirius said eloquently, miming unlocking the car. “So the lights flash and we might see them.”

“You’re a detective.” Remus did as Sirius suggested.

Sirius turned on the spot a few times. “Oh!” They were already off through the rows of cars. “I see it!”

“Thank god, come on.” Remus let them lead the way to the car. 

When they made it, they loaded the bags into the car and quickly got in. Sirius put on a playlist that they had made for the trip. Remus was so happy to be home but something was tugging at him, making him wish they were still in Florence. It had been such a nice little bubble with only them. There weren’t any worries there, just them and the little loft and all the gelato they could eat.

“We should get everyone together soon, maybe have them come to the flat,” Remus suggested to Sirius.

“Yeah! James said something about celebrating my medal just after I told him but he’s gone quiet now. I suppose finance is just a riveting sector to work in.” Sirius shrugged, leaning their head back. “Marly wants to hang the medal in the studio, of course.”

“You should!” Remus encouraged them as he turned onto their street. “You deserve all the love.”

Sirius peered at them. “You know I only win because the “men’s” competitions are so much less populated. If I were in the women’s comps I’d get pushed a lot harder. I tried to tell Marly this but she just squawked at me and walked off.”

“Come on, Sirius, we watched the women’s and not everyone can move like you.” Remus wasn’t just saying that either because he was in love with Sirius. He meant it, no one was that talented.

“You’re biased,” Sirius said with a laugh. “I might have strength the competitors in the women’s comps don’t but they all have this grace I have to work at.” They sighed wistfully. “One day we’ll have the same comps.”

“I’m not being biased, I’m being honest! You have plenty of grace, you move like air.” Remus waved a hand before he parked the car.

Sirius gave them a genuine smile. “You’re very sweet.”

“I love you.” Remus leaned over the center console. “Thank you for making Tuscany even better, love.”

“Thank  _ you, _ caro.” Sirius met them for a quick kiss. “I love you.”

“Hmm, mmm. I can’t wait to crawl into our bed. Maybe roll a joint when we get up there.” Remus leaned back.

Sirius grinned. “We still have brownies, don’t we?” They patted his knee. “Let’s go.” 

“You’re passing up an opportunity to see me roll?” Remus chuckled as he got out of the car.

Sirius paused, halfway out of the car. “I take that back. You want a joint we’ll have a joint, caro. Only I think I might get a bit too distracted by your fingers, no matter how tired I am.”

“Always.” Remus laughed then closed his door. “If my mother moves closer like she wants to, then we’re going to be stoned all the time. Hopefully they don’t start drug testing randomly for competitions.”

“Oh  _ shit. _ I never thought of that.” Sirius met them at the side of the car to pick up their bags. “Although they’re testing for steroids, right? Surely weed will  _ hamper _ performance.” They bit their lip, humming in thought. “We should test it out.”

“What see how we do our individual sports sober then high?” Remus picked up his luggage.

“Right!” Sirius said enthusiastically, starting for the steps. “I reckon I’d be laughing too much to get a grip on the pole and I’ll just fall flat on my face.”

“That’ll be something to test.” He followed Sirius, yearning to finally be in their bed.

At the top of the stairs Sirius stopped dead. The clatter of their bag hitting the floor echoed through the stairwell. “Shit.”

Remus’ stomach dropped at Sirius’ body language and tone. “What happened? Did someone break in?” Remus hurried up the steps. Hepeered past Sirius to see someone sitting on the stoop of their door, a bag by their feet.

The person had black hair the same shade as Sirius’ but shorter. Their bare arms were pale and hooked around their knees. Their profile was instantly recognisable to Remus, the nose, the high cheekbones. But he didn’t understand it. They had to be related to Sirius but...

Sirius took a few steps forward, a frown on their face. “Reggie?”


End file.
